tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303113532015-02-26T07:40:56.024-08:00BreaktheChains.info<A HREF="http://breakthechains.info"><IMG SRC="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/953/3700/1600/gse_multipart16256.jpg"
ALT="Break the Chains"></A>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.comBlogger5570125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-9173156632616600332012-09-01T10:59:00.001-07:002012-09-01T10:59:23.391-07:00Week of mobilization and international solidarity from September 21 to September 30, for all our comrades kidnapped all over the world. in en-gr-es-it-ger (Chile)<header class="single-entry-header"><span class="entry-date">August 30, 2012</span> <span class="entry-author">by <a href="http://actforfree.nostate.net/?p=11197">actforfreedom</a></span>&nbsp; </header> <em>Actforfreedomnow!</em>/ <em>receives and transmits and translated to English</em><br /><br /> <em><strong>Week of mobilization and international solidarity from September 21 to September 30, for all our comrades kidnapped all over the world.</strong></em><br /><br /> The survival of capitalism is so monotonous and&nbsp;is structured in such a way that it is not so different from that of cruel prison. Cities, timetables,&nbsp;work, school, family and countless repressive bodies&nbsp;are &nbsp;suffocating us in a way that&nbsp;resembles a&nbsp;big prison unit.&nbsp;Surveillance cameras 24 hours a day, thousands of cops defending property, severe judges smiling satisfied when they enforce their harsh laws, tight handcuffs before their impregnable cages, etc, etc: this is what society uses in order to keep individuals under control; those who, fearing the punishment reserved to those who trespass the&nbsp;codes of imposed behaviour, stay silent, get used to oppression, absorb it like an integral part of life, like something natural, and so they prefer to avoid conflict with authority instead of rebelling.&nbsp;The powerful in all States don’t spare any efforts to repress and imprison those who have&nbsp;set themselves against the existent.<br /><br /> But today we are not going to write about survival within capitalism. We want to greet those who did not hesitate to trespass their moral enclosures and fought power face to face, those who today are inside the most blatant edifice of repression, prison. We are writing to express our solidarity with our comrades in jail. Power attacks by imprisoning comrades and organizes itself in order to crush the ideas of freedom.&nbsp;The revenge of power particularly hits well known individuals who openly declare themselves antiauthoritarian or anarchist and make an important weapon of struggle out of the spreading of ideas-deeds, as happened&nbsp;in Italy, Bolivia&nbsp;and Chile. The spectre generating from the possibility of an international web (we don’t mean any kind of organization) must continue to materialize like a real proposal.<br /><br />A web through which comrades in different parts of the world -&nbsp;who don’t know one another nor will they&nbsp;ever meet, don’t obey any kind of structure or need any ideologies or ‘leaders’, can unite their will, efforts and complicity in order to face dominion&nbsp;in all its aspects, and with different instruments can overcome language barriers and fictitious borders and establish links of solidarity by overcoming false impositions…<br /><span id="more-11197"></span><br />Therefore, from September 21 to September 30, &nbsp;we call for a week of unrest and solidarity with our brothers and sisters, with comrades kidnapped all over the world. It shouldn’t be necessary to make calls for a week of unrest, as we normally don’t like to do this because ‘solidarity’ does not knows calendar dates. But actions are being diluted in the endless chasm of information and in ‘so-called&nbsp;local struggles’, whereas the concentration of our energies in a limited period of time will help us&nbsp;to give a renewed and constant impulse to the struggle against prison and the spreading of libertarian ideas. Any action, any word of support gives strength and courage to&nbsp;prisoners.&nbsp;&nbsp;And in this struggle for total liberation we don’t forget the repression suffered by millions of animals locked up in zoos, circuses and laboratories. We must struggle for their liberation.<br /><br /> This is a call to say, by multiform actions and different instruments, that our imprisoned comrades are not forgotten. Our actions of solidarity elude all watchtowers and run over kilometres of ocean in order to embrace all the irreducible standing out in the struggle inside and outside prison.&nbsp;&nbsp;However we put the abstract imposition of borders into question, since so-called internationalism shouldn’t be such, considering that ‘in the world of bosses we are all foreigners.’<br /><br /> <em><strong>Rebel greetings to:</strong></em><br /><br /> <strong>-In Chile:</strong> Luciano Pitronello “Tortuga”, Carla Verdugo&nbsp;and Iván Silva, the comrades of so-called “Segurity case”: Juan Aliste Vega, Marcelo Villarroel, Freddy Fuentevilla.&nbsp;To Alberto Olivares, Juan Tapia and to the brother and sister&nbsp;on the run&nbsp;Gabriela Curilem&nbsp;and Diego Rios. And to those arrested in street struggles; Sebastian “Chasca” Fajardo, Eduardo “Mecha” Garay,&nbsp;and to all those standing trial for street clashes.<br /><br /> <strong>- In Bolivia: Henry Serragundo, Nina Mancilla&nbsp;and Mayron Mioshiro</strong><br /> <strong>- In Argentina:</strong> Diego Petrissans&nbsp;and Leandro Morel<br /><br /> <strong>- In Mexico:</strong> Mario Lopez, Braulio Duran&nbsp;and comrade on the run&nbsp;Felicity<br />Ryder’s.<br /><br /> <strong>-In the States&nbsp;:</strong> Mumia Abu Jamal, Douglas Wrigth, Brandon Baxter, Connor Stevens, Joshua Stafford, Marie Mason, Eric McDavid .<br /><br /> <strong>-In Indonesia:</strong> Eat and Billy.<br /><br /> <strong>-In Italy:</strong> Stefano Gabriele Fosco, Elisa Di Bernardo, Alessandro Settepani, Sergio Maria Stefani, Katia Di Stefano, Giuseppe Lo Turco, Paola Francesca Iozzi, Giulia Marziale, Lucca Abbá&nbsp;and those sentenced for the clashes of the G8 Genoa&nbsp;2001,, Massimo Passamani and Daniela Battisti (under house arrest).<br /><br /> <strong>-In Switzerland:</strong>&nbsp; Marco Camenisch&nbsp;and Costa.<br /> <h5>-In Germany: Gabriel Pombo da Silva, and Sonja Suder and her codefendant Christian Gauger (the latter two were captured last year after 33 years on the run</h5><strong>-In Spain:</strong> Tamara Hernández (now free on bail,&nbsp;she was sentenced to&nbsp;8 years&nbsp;awaiting partial amnesty to shorten her sentence), Claudio Lavazza and&nbsp;Juan Rico.<br /><br /> -To the comrades imprisoned&nbsp;in <strong>Russia&nbsp;and Belorrussia</strong>.<br /><br /> And above all to all the prisoners in struggle and the<strong> comrades on the run in Greece</strong> (t<strong>he comrades of the&nbsp;Cells&nbsp;of Fire, Revolutionary Struggle</strong> and all those imprisoned for their antiauthoritarian practice).<br /><br /> And to all the prisoners who set themselves at war also from inside the cages all over the world…<br /> <em><strong>Until the destruction of the last bastion of the prison society!</strong></em><br /> <em><strong>With anger and love…</strong></em><br /><em><strong> see you in the streets!</strong></em><br /> ———————————————————————————————————————————————-<br /> <br /> <em><strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; GREEK</strong></em><br /> <h3>[Χιλή] 21-30 Σεπτέμβρη: Μέρες αγκιτάτσιας και αλληλεγγύης με τα αιχμάλωτα<br />αδέρφια και συντρόφια μας ανά τον κόσμο</h3>Η επιβίωση στον καπιταλισμό είναι τόσο καλουπωμένη και μονότονη, ώστε δεν διαφέρει πολύ από την ωμή φυλακή. Η πόλη, τα ωράρια, η δουλειά, οι σπουδές, η οικογένεια και ένα σωρό καταπιεστικοί οργανισμοί μάς πνίγουν με τρόπο τέτοιον που μερικές φορές μοιάζει λες και βρισκόμαστε σε κάποια μεγάλη πτέρυγα φυλακής. Κάμερες παρακολούθησης επί 24ώρου βάσης, χιλιάδες μπάτσοι να φυλάνε την ιδιοκτησία, αυστηροί δικαστές με χαμογελάκια ευχαρίστησης για την εφαρμογή των δρακόντειων νόμων τους, σφιχτές χειροπέδες που προηγούνται των ακατανίκητων κλουβιών τους και μια ατελείωτη σειρά αντίστοιχων καταστάσεων, είναι ό,τι χρησιμοποιεί η κοινωνία για να κρατά στη σειρά τα άτομα, τα οποία, τρέμοντας τις τιμωρίες<br />που τους περιμένουν αν σπάσουν τον επιβεβλημένο κώδικα συμπεριφοράς, το βουλώνουν, συνηθίζουν στην καταπίεση και την αφομοιώνουν ως δομικό στοιχείο της ζωής τους, ως κάτι το φυσικό, προτιμώντας να αποφύγουν τα μπλεξίματα με την εξουσία, αντί να εξεγερθούν.<br /> Οι ισχυροί όλων των κρατών δεν τσιγκουνεύονται τα μέσα κάθε είδους<br />προκειμένου να καταστείλουν και να φυλακίσουν όσους κρατάνε στάση<br />σύγκρουσης με το υπάρχον. Σήμερα όμως δεν θα γράψουμε για την επιβίωση εντός του καπιταλισμού, αλλά θα χαιρετίσουμε όσες και όσους δεν δίστασαν να υπερβούν τους ηθικούς τους φραγμούς και αντιμετώπισαν πρόσωπο με πρόσωπο την εξουσία, όσες και όσους σήμερα πλαγιάζουν στην πιο προφανή απόδειξη της καταστολής, τη φυλακή. Γράφουμε για να εκφράσουμε την επείγουσα ανάγκη μας να δείξουμε την αλληλεγγύη μας στα έγκλειστα συντρόφια μας.<br /> Η εξουσία επιτίθεται φυλακίζοντας συντρόφια και οργανώνεται για να<br />καταπολεμήσει τις ιδέες της λευτεριάς, με την εκδικητικότητά της να πέφτει κυρίως επί αναγνωρίσιμων ατόμων που χωρίς περιστροφές δηλώνουν αντεξουσιαστές ή αναρχικοί και φτιάχνουν μέσω της προπαγάνδας των ιδεών-δράσεων ένα σημαντικότατο όπλο αγώνα, όπως συνέβη στην Ιταλία, στη Βολιβία ή στη Χιλή. Το φάντασμα που γεννά η δυνατότητα ενός διεθνούς δικτύου (δεν αναφερόμαστε σε κανενός είδους οργάνωση) συνεχίζει να υλοποιείται ως μία πρόταση πραγματική, στην οποία συντρόφια από διάφορα μέρη του κόσμου, που δεν γνωρίζονται ούτε θα γνωριστούν μεταξύ τους, που δεν υπακούουν σε κανενός είδους δομή και δεν αναζητούν μήτε ιδεολογικούς ταγούς μήτε αρχηγούς, ενώνουν επιθυμίες, δυνάμεις και συνενοχές για να αντιμετωπίσουν την κυριαρχία σε όλο της το φάσμα, χρησιμοποιώντας διαφορετικά εργαλεία, υπερβαίνοντας τα γλωσσικά εμπόδια και τα κάλπικα σύνορα, εδραιώνοντας δεσμούς αλληλεγγύης και ξεπερνώντας τις ψεύτικες<br />επιβολές…<br /> Γι’ αυτόν το λόγο, από τις 21 ως τις 30 Σεπτέμβρη καλούμε σε μια βδομάδα αγκιτάτσιας και αλληλεγγύης προς τα αιχμάλωτα αδέρφια και συντρόφια μας ανά τον κόσμο. Αν και δεν θα έπρεπε να είναι αναγκαίο να καλούμε σε εβδομάδες αγκιτάτσιας, μιας και γενικά είμαστε κριτικοί απέναντι σε αυτά τα καλέσματα, δεδομένου ότι η αλληλεγγύη δεν γνωρίζει ημερολογιακό προγραμματισμό, θεωρούμε ωστόσο ότι μερικές φορές οι χειρονομίες χάνονται στον καθημερινό καταιγισμό πληροφορίας και τους αποκαλούμενους «τοπικούς αγώνες», και έτσι η συγκέντρωση ενέργειας σε ένα χρονικό διάστημα καθορισμένο μάς βοηθά να δώσουμε μια νέα και συνεχή ώθηση στον αγώνα ενάντια στις φυλακές και στην προπαγάνδιση των ελευθεριακών ιδεών, με οποιαδήποτε δράση, οποιαδήποτε κουβέντα συμπαράστασης να δίνει δύναμη και<br />κουράγιο στους κρατουμένους. Σε αυτόν τον αγώνα για τη συνολική<br />απελευθέρωση δεν θέλουμε να αφήσουμε στην απέξω την καταστολή στην οποία υπόκεινται μυριάδες ζώα που βρίσκονται έγκλειστα σε ζωολογικούς κήπους, τσίρκα και εργαστήρια, και την ανάγκη μας να αγωνιστούμε για την απελευθέρωσή τους.<br /> Αυτό το κείμενο καλεί να δείξουμε μέσω της πολύμορφης δράσης και<br />διαφορετικών εργαλείων πως δεν ξεχνάμε τα έγκλειστα συντρόφια μας και ότι οι αλληλέγγυες χειρονομίες μας ξεφεύγουν οποιουδήποτε πύργου επιτήρησης και διασχίζουν μίλια ωκεανού για ν’ αγκαλιάσουν οποιοδήποτε ανυπότακτο άτομο αγωνίζεται μέσα ή έξω από τις φυλακές. Παρομοίως, αμφισβητούμε την αφηρημένη επιβολή των συνόρων, γι’ αυτό ο αποκαλούμενος διεθνισμός δεν θα ’πρεπε να ’ναι ως έχει, γιατί «στον κόσμο των αφεντικών είμαστε όλοι ξένοι».<br /> Αντάρτικους χαιρετισμούς σε:<br /> - Χιλή: Σε Λουσιάνο Πιτρονέγιο «Τορτούγα», Κάρλα Βερδούγο και Ιβάν Σίλβα, στους συντρόφους της αποκαλούμενης «υπόθεσης σεκιούριτι» Χουάν Αλίστε Βέγκα, Μαρσέλο Βιγιαροέλ και Φρέντυ Φουεντεβίγια. Επίσης, στους Αλμπέρτο Ολιβάρες, Χουάν Ταπία, καθώς και στα φυγόδικα συντρόφια Γκαμπριέλα Κουριλέμ και Ντιέγο Ρίος. Ακόμη, στους Σεμπαστιάν Φαχάρδο, Εδουάρδο Γκαράυ, Αντριάν Ντίας και σε όλους τους αιχμαλώτους και διωκόμενους των οδομαχιών.<br /> - Βολιβία: Σε Χένρυ Σεγαρρούντο, και Μάυρον Μιοσίρο.<br /> - Αργεντινή: Σε Ντιέγο Πετρισσάνς και Λέανδρο Μορέλ.<br /> - Μεξικό: Στους Μάριο Λόπες, Μπράουλιο Ντουράν και στη φυγόδικη<br />συντρόφισσα Φελίσιτυ Ράιντερ.<br /> - ΗΠΑ: Στους Μούμια Αμπού Τζαμάλ, Ντάγκλας Ράιτ, Μπράντον Μπάξτερ, Κόννορ<br />Στήβενς, Τσόσουα Στάφορντ, Μαρί Μασον και Έρικ ΜακΝτέιβιντ.<br /> - Ινδονησία: Στους Ητ και Μπίλλυ.<br /> - Ιταλία: Στους Στέφανο Γκαμπριέλε Φόσκο, Ελίζα Ντι Μπερνάρντο, Αλεσσάντρο<br />Σεττέπανι, Σέρτζιο Μαρία Στεφάνι, Κάτια Ντι Στέφανο, Τζουζέππε Λο Τούρκο,<br />Πάολα Φραντσέσκα Ιότζι, Τζιούλια Μαρτσιάλε, Λούκα Αμπά, και στους<br />καταδικασθέντες για τις διαδηλώσεις ενάντια στη σύνοδο της G8 στη Γένοβα, Μασσιμο πασαμανι, Ντανιελα μπαττιστι(περιορισμενη μεσα στο σπιτι της)<br /> - Ελβετία: Στους Μάρκο Καμένις και Κόστα.<br /> - Γερμανία: Γκαμπριέλ Πόμπο ντα Σίλβα, Σόνια Σούντερ και Κρίστιαν<br />Γκάουγκερ (η Σόνια και ο Κρίστιαν συνελήφθησαν το περασμένο έτος ύστερα από 33 χρόνια αυτοεξορίας).<br /> - Ισπανία: Στους Ταμάρα Ερνάντες (αυτήν τη στιγμή ελεύθερη, έχει<br />καταδικαστεί σε 8 έτη φυλάκισης κι αναμένει να λάβει μερική χάρη<br />προκειμένου να της μειωθεί η ποινή), Κλάουντιο Λαβάτσα και Χουάν Ρίκο.<br /> - Στα έγκλειστα συντρόφια σε Ρωσία και Λευκορωσία.<br /> Ιδίως στην Ελλάδα, σε όλους τους φυλακισμένους αγωνιστές και στους<br />καταζητούμενους. (Στα συντρόφια της Συνωμοσίας Πυρήνων της Φωτιάς, του Επαναστατικού Αγώνα και σε όλους κι όλες που βρίσκονται όμηροι για αντεξουσιαστική τους πράξη.)<br /> Και σε όλους τους κρατουμένους που κρατάνε μαχητική στάση μέσα απ’ τα<br />κελιά οπουδήποτε στον κόσμο…<br /> Μέχρι την καταστροφή και του τελευταίου προπύργιου της κοινωνίας των φυλακών!<br /> ΜΕ ΑΓΑΠΗ ΚΑΙ ΛΥΣΣΑ… ΡΑΝΤΕΒΟΥ ΣΤΟ ΔΡΟΜΟ.<br /> <pre><strong>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /></strong></pre><div align="center"><strong>ITALIANO:</strong><strong>Settimana di agitazione e solidarieta` internazionale dal 21 al 30 Settembre per i nostri compagni e le nostre compagne sequestrat@ in tutto il mondo</strong></div>La sopravvivenza nel capitalismo e` cosi` quadricolata e monotona da non essere poi molto differente da quella della cruda prigione; la citta`, gli orari, il lavoro, lo studio, la famiglia e un innumerabile quantita` di organismi oppresivi, ci asfissiano in tal modo che a volte sembrerebbe stessimo in qualche grande sezione carceraria. Videocamere di vigilanza 24 ore al giorno, migliaia di sbirri custodiando la proprieta`, severi giudici con sorrisetti soddisfatti all’applicare le loro leggi durissime, strette manette che precedono le loro gabbie inespugnabili e un lunghissimo eccetera, e` tutto cio` che la societa` utilizza per mantenere controllati gli individui, coloro che, timorosi dei castighi promessi a chi sconfina i codici di condotta imposta, tacciono, si abituano alla oppressione, la assimilano come parte integrale della vita, come qualcosa di naturale e preferiscono evitare i conflitti con la autorita` invece di ribellarsi.<br />I potenti di tutti gli stati non si sono risparmiti sforzi di tutti i tipi per reprimere e incarcerare coloro che si sono mantenuti in posizioni di scontro con l’esistente.<br /> Ma oggi non scriveremo a proposito della sopravvivenza dentro al capitalismo, vogliamo invece salutare quell@ che non hanno avuto nessun dubbio a traspassare i loro recinti morali e si sono scontrati faccia a faccia con il potere, quell@ che ad oggi dormono dentro al piu`palpabile edificio della repressione, il carcere. Scriviamo per esprimere la nostra urgenza di solidarizzare con i nostri compagni e le nostre compagne in galera.<br /> Il potere attacca incarcerando i compagni e le compagne e si coordina per combattere le idee di liberta`.<br />Questa vendetta ricade principalmente su individui ben riconoscibili che senza maschere si sono dichiarati antiautoritari o anarchici e hanno fatto del propagarsi delle idee-azioni una importantissima arma di lotta, come cio` che e` successo in Italia, Bolivia o Cile.<br />Il fantasma che si genera nella possibilita`di una rete internazionale (non ci riferiamo a nessun tipo di organizzazione) continui a materializzarsi, come una proposta reale.<br /> Una rete nella quale compagn@ di differenti luoghi del mondo, che non si conoscono ne`si conosceranno mai, che non obbediscono a nessun tipo di struttura e&nbsp; che non hanno bisogno di ideologi ne`leader, uniscano volonta`, sforzi e complicita`per confrontarsi con il dominio in tutto il suo spettro; che, attraverso differenti strumenti, superando le barriere linguistiche e le frontiere fittizie, stabiliscano legami di solidarieta` e superino le false imposizioni…<br /> Convochiamo quindi, dal 21 al 30 di settembre, una settimana di agitazione e solidarieta’&nbsp; con i nostri fratelli e le nostre sorelle, con i compagni e le compagne sequestrat@ in tutto il mondo.<br />Anche se non dovrebbe essere necessario appellare a settimane di agitazione, visto che in generale ne siamo critici perche` la solidarieta’ non conosce date di calendario, i gesti comunque si vanno diluendo nella continua voragine della informazione e nelle “cosidette lotte locali” mentre la concentrazione delle energie in un lasso di tempo ridotto, ci aiuta invece a dare un nuovo e costante impulso nella lotta contro le carceri e nella diffusione delle idee libertarie; qualsiasi azione, qualsiasi parola di appoggio apporta forza e coraggio ai detenuti e alle detenute.<br /> E in questa lotta per la liberazione totale non vogliamo tralasciare la repressione che soffrono milioni di animali chiusi in zoo, circhi e laboratori, e della nostra necessita` di lottare per la loro liberazione.<br /> Questo testo e` una chiamata per dire, mediante l’azione multiforme e con distinti strumenti, che i nostri compagni e le nostre compagne incarcerat@ non sono dimenticat@, i nostri gesti di solidarieta’ evadono qualsiasi torre di vigilanza e attraversano chilometri di oceano per abbracciare a qualsiasi irriducibile che si posizioni nella lotta dentro e fuori dal carcere.<br />Della stessa forma poniamo in dubbio questa imposizione astratta delle frontiere, ragione per cui il cosidetto internazionalismo non dovrebbe essere tale, visto che “nel mondo dei leader siamo tutti stranieri”.<br /> Saluti ribelli a:<br />-In Cile: Luciano Pitronello “Tortuga”, Carla Verdugo e Iván Silva, a i compagni e le compagne del cosidetto&nbsp; “caso Segurity”: &nbsp;Juan Aliste Vega, Marcelo Villarroel, Freddy Fuentevilla. A Alberto Olivares, Juan Tapia e ai fratelli e sorelle profugh@&nbsp; Gabriela Curilem e Diego Rios. E agli arrestati della lotta di strada; Sebastian Fajardo, Eduardo Garay, e a tutt@ quell@ che sono ora sotto processo per gli scontri di strada.<br /> - In Bolivia: Henry Serragundo e Mayron Mioshiro.<br /> - in Argentina: Diego Petrissans e Leandro&nbsp;Morel.<br /> - in Messico: Mario Lopez, Braulio Duran e la compagna&nbsp; prófuga Felicity Ryder.<br /> -Negli Stati uniti : Mumia Abu Jamal, Douglas Wrigth, Brandon Baxter, Connor Stevens, Joshua Stafford, Marie Mason e Eric McDavid.<br /> -In Indonesia: Eat y Billy.<br /> -In Italia: Stefano Gabriele Fosco, Elisa Di Bernardo, Alessandro Settepani, Sergio Maria Stefani, Katia Di Stefano, Giuseppe Lo Turco, Paola Francesca Iozzi, Giulia Marziale, Lucca Abbá e a chi e’ stat@ condannat@ per le proteste del G8 a Genova, Massimo Passamani e Daniela Battisti (agli arresti domiciliari).<br /> -In Svizzera: Marco Camenish e Costa.<br /> -In Germania: Gabriel Pombo da Silva. Sonja Suder e Christian Gauger (questi ultimi due arrestati l’anno scorso dopo 3 anni di fuga).<br /> -In Spagna: Tamara Hernández (adesso a piede libero, condannata a 8 anni e aspettando l’indulto parziale per accorciare la pena), Claudio Lavazza e Juan Rico.<br /> -Ai compagni e alle compagne incarcerat@ in Russia e Biolorrussia.<br /> - E specialmente a tutt@ i/le prigionier@ in lotta e ai/alle profugh@ in Grecia. (Ai compagni e le compagne di Cellule di Fuoco, Lotta rivoluzionaria e tutt@ quell@ che sono stat@ incarcerat@ per la propria pratica antiautoritaria)<br /> E a tutt@ i/le prigionier@ che si posizionano in guerra anche dentro le gabbie in qualsiasi parte del mondo…<br />Fino alla distruzione dell’ultimo bastione della societa’ carceraria!<br /> <div align="center">CON AMORE E RABIA… CI VEDIAMO NELLE STRADE!</div><pre><strong>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /></strong></pre><div align="center"><strong>GERMAN</strong><br /><strong>Agitations- und Solidaritätswoche mit unseren gefangenen Schwestern, Brüdern und GenossInnen auf der ganzen Welt vom 21. bis 30. September.</strong></div>Das Überleben im Kapitalismus ist so eingeschränkt und monoton, dass es sich nicht allzu sehr vom hartem Gefängnisleben unterscheidet; die Stadt, die Zeitpläne, die Arbeit, das Studium, die Familie und eine Unzahl an unterdrückenden Organismen ersticken uns, so dass es manchmal scheint, als ob wir in irgendeinem großen Gefängnistrakt wären. Videoüberwachung 24 Stunden am Tag, Tausende von Polizisten, die das Eigentum beaufsichtigen, strenge Richter mit zufriedenen Lächeln auf den Lippen, wenn sie ihre harten Gesetze anwenden, fest sitzende Fußfesseln, die ihren unerschütterlichen Käfigen vorausgehen und eine langen Liste an weiteren Mitteln, die die Gesellschaft benützt, um die Individuen in Schranken zu halten; die versprochenen Strafen bei Überschreitung der auferlegten Verhaltensmaßregeln fürchtend, halten sie den Mund, gewöhnen sich an die Unterdrückung, nehmen sie als Teil ihres Lebens, als etwas natürliches auf und ziehen es somit vor, Konflikte mit der Autorität zu vermeiden und sich lieber nicht aufzulehnen.<br /> Die Mächtigen aller Staaten haben keinerlei Mühen gescheut, um diejenigen zu unterdrücken und einzusperren, die in Konfrontationsstellung zu den bestehenden Verhältnissen verharrt haben. Aber heute schreiben wir nicht über das Überleben innerhalb des Kapitalismus, sondern grüssen diejenigen, die nicht gezweifelt haben, ihre moralische Einzäunung zu durchbrechen und sich von Angesicht zu Angesicht der Macht entgegengestellt haben, die heute in dem greifbarsten Gebäude der Repression schlafen, im Gefängnis. Wir schreiben, um der Notwendigkeit Ausdruck zu verleihen, uns mit unseren GenossInnen im Gefängnis zu solidarisieren.<br /> Die Macht greift an, indem sie GenossInnen einsperrt und koordiniert sich, um die Ideen der Freiheit zu bekämpfen; diese Rache fällt vor allem auf erkennbare Individuen ab, die sich offen antiautoritär und anarchisch erklärt und aus der Verbreitung der Ideen-Aktionen eine sehr wichtige Waffe des Kampfes gemacht haben, so wie in Italien, Bolivien und $hile. Das Gespenst, das ihnen die Möglichkeit eines internationalen Netzwerkes eröffnet (wir beziehen uns auf keinerlei Art von Organisation), materialisiert sich immer mehr als ein realer Vorschlag, in dem GenossInnen aus verschiedenen Orten der Welt, die sich weder kennen, noch kennenlernen werden, die keiner Art von Struktur gehorchen und die keine Ideologen, keine AnführerInnen benötigen, Wille, Anstrengung und Komplizenschaft vereinen, um sich der Herrschaft in all ihren Spektren entgegen zu stellen, Solidaritätsbände knüpfen und die falschen Zwänge überwinden, indem sie unterschiedliche Werkzeuge gebrauchen und die sprachlichen Hürden und erfundenen Grenzen überbrücken…<br /> Deswegen rufen wir zu einer Agitations- und Solidaritätswoche mit unseren gefangenen Schwestern, Brüdern und GenossInnen auf der ganzen Welt vom 21. bis 30. September auf. Auch wenn es nicht notwendig sein sollte, zu Agitationswochen aufzurufen -im Allgemeinen stehen wir ihnen kritisch gegenüber, weil die Solidarität keine Kalenderdaten kennt, lösen sich die Gesten jedoch manchmal im fortlaufendem Strudel der Information und den “so genannten lokalen Kämpfen” auf. Die Energien auf einen engeren Zeitraum zu konzentrieren hilft uns, dem Kampf gegen die Gefängnisse und der Verbreitung libertärer Ideen einen neuen und konstanten Antrieb zu geben, jegliche Aktion, jegliches Wort der Unterstützung gibt den Gefangenen neue Kraft und Mut.<br /> Ausserdem möchten wir in diesem Kampf um die totale Befreiung die Repression, die Millionen von Tieren eingesperrt in Zoos, Zirkusse und Labore erleiden, und unser Bedürfnis, um ihre Befreiung zu kämpfen, nicht unerwähnt lassen.<br /> Dieser Text ist ein Aufruf dazu, aus der vielgestaltigen Aktion heraus und mit unterschiedlichen Werkzeugen auszudrücken, dass unsere eingesperrten GenossInnen nicht vergessen sind, unsere Gesten der Solidarität entkommen jeglichem Überwachungsturm und überqueren Kilometer von Ozeanen, um jedes unbezwingbare Individuum zu umarmen, das innerhalb oder ausserhalb der Gefängnisse Position bezieht. Ausserdem stellen wir jene abstrakte Auferlegung der Grenzen infrage, und damit auch den so genannten Internationalismus, dieser dürfte sich nicht so nennen, weil in “der Welt der Bosse sind wir alle AussländerInnen”.<br /> Rebelische Grüsse an:<br /> - In Chile: Luciano Pitronello “Tortuga”, Carla Verdugo und Iván Silva, an die Genossen des so genannten “caso Segurity” (“Segurity Fall”): Juan Aliste Vega, Marcelo Villarroel, Freddy Fuentevilla. An Alberto Olivares, Juan Tapia und an die Schwester und den Bruder auf der Flucht Gabriela Curilem und Diego Rios. Und an die Gefangenen des Straßenkampfes; Sebastian Fajardo, Eduardo Garay, und alle, die wegen des Straßenkampfes prozesiert werden.<br /> - In Bolivien: Henry Serragundo und Mayron Mioshiro<br /> - In Argentinien: Diego Petrissans und&nbsp;Leandro&nbsp;Morel.<br /> - In Mexiko: Mario Lopez, Braulio Duran und die flüchtige Genossin Felicity Ryder.<br /> - In den USA: Mumia Abu Jamal, Douglas Wrigth, Brandon Baxter, Connor Stevens, Joshua Stafford, Marie Mason und Eric McDavid.<br /> - In Indonesien: Eat und Billy.<br /> - In Italien: Stefano Gabriele Fosco, Elisa Di Bernardo, Alessandro Settepani, Sergio Maria Stefani, Katia Di Stefano, Giuseppe Lo Turco, Paola Francesca Iozzi, Giulia Marziale, Lucca Abbá und an die Verurteilten wegen der G8 Proteste in Genua, Massimo Passamani und Daniela Battisti.<br /> - In der Schweiz: Marco Camenish und Costa.<br /> - In Deutschland: Gabriel Pombo da Silva. Sonja Suder und Christian Gauger (die letzten beiden letztes Jahr nach 33 Jahren Flucht erfasst).<br /> - In Spanien: Tamara Hernández (auf der Straße, zu 8 Jahren Haft verurteilt und in Erwartung auf Strafminderung, um die Haftstrafe zu kürzen), Claudio Lavazza und Juan Rico.<br /> - An die in Russland und Belarus eingesperrten GenossInnen.<br /> - Besonders an alle kämpfenden Gefangenen und an die Flüchtigen in Griechenland. (An die GenossInnen der Feuerzellen, Revolutionären Kampfes, und all diejenigen, die auf Grund ihrer antiautoritären Praxis eingesperrt worden sind)<br /> Und an all die Gefangenen, die sich innerhalb der Käfige wo auch immer auf der Welt im Krieg erklären und Position beziehen…<br />¡Bis das letzte Bollwerk der Knastgesellschaft zerstört ist!<br /> <div align="center">MIT LIEBE UND WUT… WIR SEHEN UNS AUF DER STRASSE.</div><div align="center">———————————————————————————————————————————————</div><div align="center"><strong>SPANISH</strong></div><div align="center"><div align="center"><strong>Semana de Agitación y Solidaridad desde el 21 al 30 de Septiembre con nuestrxs hermanxs y compañerxs secuestradxs en todo el mundo.</strong></div>La sobrevivencia en el capitalismo es tan cuadriculada y monótona que no difiere demasiado de la cruda cárcel; la ciudad, los horarios, el trabajo, el estudio, la familia y un sinnúmero de organismos opresivos nos asfixian de manera que a veces pareciera que estuviéramos en algún gran módulo carcelario. Cámaras de video vigilancia 24 horas al día, miles de policías custodiando la propiedad, estrictos jueces con sonrisitas satisfechas por aplicar sus durísimas leyes, apretados grilletes que preceden a sus inexpugnables jaulas y un larguísimo etcétera es lo que la sociedad utiliza para mantener a raya a los individuos, quienes temerosos de los castigos prometidos por desbordar los códigos de conducta impuestos, callan, se acostumbran a la opresión, la asimilan como parte integral de su vida, como algo natural prefiriendo evitar conflictos con la autoridad antes que rebelarse.<br /> Los poderosos de todos los Estados, no han escatimado esfuerzos de todo tipo para reprimir y encarcelar a quienes se han mantenido en posiciones de enfrentamiento a lo existente. Pero hoy no escribiremos de la sobrevivencia dentro del capitalismo, sino que saludaremos a esxs que no dudaron en traspasar sus cercas morales y se enfrentaron cara a cara con el Poder, quienes hoy duermen en el más palpable edificio de la represión, la cárcel. Escribimos para expresar nuestra urgencia de solidarizar con nuestrxs compañerxs en prisión.<br /> El Poder ataca encarcelando a compañerxs y se coordina para combatir las ideas de libertad, esta venganza cae principalmente hacia reconocibles individuxs que sin tapujos se han declarado anti-autoritarixs u anárquicxs y han hecho de la propagación de ideas-acciones una importantísima arma de lucha, como lo ocurrido en Italia, Bolivia o $hile. El fantasma que les genera la posibilidad de una red internacional (no nos referimos a ningún tipo de organización) se continúe materializando como una propuesta real, en la cual compañerxs de distintos lugares del mundo, que no se conocen ni se conocerán, que no obedecen a ningún tipo de estructura, y que no requieren de ideólogxs, ni jefxs, aúnen voluntades, esfuerzos y complicidades para enfrentarse al dominio en todo sus espectro, y utilizando distintas herramientas, superando las barreras idiomáticas, y las ficticias fronteras, establezcan lazos de solidaridad y superen las falsas imposiciones….<br /> Es por eso que nos convocamos a una Semana de Agitación y Solidaridad desde el 21 al 30 de Septiembre con nuestrxs hermanxs y compañerxs secuestradxs en todo el mundo. Si bien no debería ser necesario apelar a semanas de agitación, en general somos críticos de ellas, porque la solidaridad no conoce de fechas calendarizadas, sin embargo a veces los gestos se diluyen en la continua vorágine de la información y las “llamadas luchas locales”, la concentración de energías en un espacio de tiempo reducido nos ayuda a dar un nuevo y constante impulso en la lucha contra las cárceles y la propagación de ideas libertarias, cualquier acción, cualquier palabra de apoyo inyecta fuerza y coraje a lxs presxs.<br />En esta lucha por la liberación total no queremos también dejar de mencionar la represión que sufren millones de animales encerrados en zoológicos, circos y laboratorios, y de nuestra necesidad de luchar por su liberación.<br /> Este texto es un llamado a expresar desde la acción multiforme y con distintas herramientas que nuestrxs compañerxs encarceladxs no están olvidadxs, nuestros gestos solidaridad evaden cualquier torre de vigilancia y atraviesan kilómetros oceánicos para abrazar a cualquier irreductible que se posicione en lucha dentro o fuera de las cárceles.<br />Asimismo nos cuestionamos esa abstracta imposición de las fronteras, por lo tanto el llamado internacionalismo, no debería ser tal, porque en “el mundo de los jefes somos todxs extranjerxs”.<br /> Saludos rebeldes a:<br /> -En Chile: Luciano Pitronello “Tortuga”, Carla Verdugo e Iván Silva, a lxs compaeñros del llamado “caso Segurity”: Juan Aliste Vega, Marcelo Villarroel, Freddy Fuentevilla. A Alberto Olivares, Juan Tapia y a lxs hermanxs profugxs Gabriela Curilem y Diego Ríos. Y a los presos de la lucha callejera; Sebastian Fajardo, Eduardo Garay, Adrián Díaz y todxs lxs que se encuentran procesadxs por la lucha callejera.<br /> -En Bolivia: Henry Serragundo y Mayron Mioshiro.<br /> -En Argentina: Diego Petrissans y Leandro Morel.<br /> -En Mexico: Mario Lopez, Braulio Duran y a la compañera prófuga Felicity Ryder.<br /> -En Estados Unidos: Mumia Abu Jamal, Douglas Wrigth, Brandon Baxter, Connor Stevens, Joshua Stafford, Marie Mason y Eric McDavid<br /> -En Indonesia: Eat y Billy.<br /> -En Italia: Stefano Gabriele Fosco, Elisa Di Bernardo, Alessandro Settepani, Sergio Maria Stefani, Katia Di Stefano, Giuseppe Lo Turco,<br />Paola Francesca Lozzi, Giulia Marziale, Lucca Abbá a lxs condenadxs por las protestas del G8 en Genova, Massimo Passamani y Daniela Battisti (con arresto domiciliario).<br /> -En Suiza: Marco Camenish y Costa.<br /> -En Alemania: Gabriel Pombo da Silva, Sonja Suder y su coacusado Christian Gauger (estxs últimxs capturados el año pasado luego de 33 años de fuga).<br /> -En España: Tamara Hernández (en la calle, condenada a 8 años y a espera de indulto parcial para recortar la pena), Claudio Lavazza y Juan Rico.<br /> -A lxs compañerxs enjauladxs en Rusia y Biolorrusia.<br /> -En especial a todxs lxs presxs en lucha y a lxs prófugos en Grecia. (A lxs compañerxs de la Conspiración de Células del Fuego, Lucha Revolucionaria, y todxs aquellxs que han sido encarcelados por su praxis anti autoritaria).<br /> Y a todxs lxs prisionerxs que se posicionan en guerra dentro de las jaulas en cualquier lugar del mundo…<br />¡Hasta destruir el último bastión de la sociedad carcelaria!<br /> <div align="center">CON AMOR Y RABIA… NOS VEMOS EN LA CALLE.</div></div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-21235760963872114402012-09-01T10:50:00.001-07:002012-09-01T10:50:49.592-07:00PP/POW Updates and Announcements - 28 Aug 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://nycabc.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/updates-28-aug-2012.pdf"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://zinelibrary.info/files/images/updates-28-aug-2012-1.preview.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>From: "NYC ABC" <br />Date: Sat, September 1, 2012<br /><br /> Here's the latest compilation of every other week updates. We've mailed<br />hard copies to Sundiata Acoli, Joe-Joe Bowen, David Gilbert, Marie Mason,<br />Eric McDavid, Daniel McGowan, Jalil Muntaqim and Sekou Odinga. Please<br />download and mail the current edition to prisoners with whom you<br />correspond and share links with those who might be interested in doing the<br />same:<br /><br /> <a href="http://nycabc.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/updates-28-aug-2012.pdf" title="http://nycabc.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/updates-28-aug-2012.pdf">http://nycabc.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/updates-28-aug-2012.pdf</a><br /> <br /> --<br />NYC ABC<br />Post Office Box 110034<br />Brooklyn, New York 11211<br /> nycabc[at]riseup[dot]net<br /><a href="http://nycabc.wordpress.com/" title="http://nycabc.wordpress.com">http://nycabc.wordpress.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/nycabc" title="http://www.facebook.com/nycabc">http://www.facebook.com/nycabc</a><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/nycabc" title="http://twitter.com/nycabc">http://twitter.com/nycabc</a><br /><a href="http://www.abcf.net/nyc" title="http://www.abcf.net/nyc">http://www.abcf.net/nyc</a><br /> Free all Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War!<br />For the Abolition of State Repression and Domination!Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-57331047749690712872012-09-01T10:48:00.001-07:002012-09-01T10:51:16.306-07:00Political Prisoner Birthday Poster For September Is Now Available<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://zinelibrary.info/files/sept.pdf"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://zinelibrary.info/files/images/sept.preview.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>Aug. 30, 2012 <a href="http://prisonbooks.info/2012/08/30/political-prisoner-birthday-poster-for-september-is-now-available-2/#more-1517">Prison Books.info</a><br /><br />Hello Friends and Comrades,<br /><br /><a href="http://zinelibrary.info/files/sept.pdf">Here</a> is the political prisoner birthday poster for September. As always, please post this poster publicly and/or use it to start a card writing night of your own.<br /><br />There are a lot of updates this month.<br /><br />Firstly, there is a call for a day of action against mass incarceration on September 21st on the anniversary of the execution of Troy Davis. Find out more info<a href="http://prisonbooks.info/2012/08/27/call-for-a-day-of-action-against-mass-incarceration-on-september-21st/"> here</a>.<br /><br />Also coming up, on September 12th, immediately before the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, the <a href="http://crimethinc.com/">crimethinc. ex-workers collective</a> will meet <a href="http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&amp;view=item&amp;id=6587:interview-with-chris-hedges-about-black-bloc">Chris Hedges</a> in New York City for a public debate about diversity of tactics. This debate will be free and open to the public, and livestreamed for those who can’t attend. More info and a link to the livestream can be found <a href="http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2012/08/16/crimethinc-to-debate-chris-hedges-in-nyc/">here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://prisonbooks.info/2012/08/16/evidence-points-to-the-abuse-of-state-power-and-revengeful-retaliation-by-the-greensboro-police/">New evidence</a> points to the “Abuse of State Power” and revengeful retaliation by the Greensboro Police in the RICO case against Latin King Jorge Cornell and other NC Latin Kings. Their trial has been set for October 15th. Jorge Cornell’s birthday is this month, so be sure to send him some words of encouragement.<br /><br /><span id="more-1517"></span><br />It certainly hurts to have to relay the news that once again <a href="http://www.sundiataacoli.org/">Sundiata Acoli </a>has been denied parole. His case has been referred to a panel of three people to determine the amount of time he will have to serve before becoming eligible for another hearing. Sundiata is now 74 years old and has served nearly 40 of those years in federal prison. Please take a moment to write him a card or letter<br />.<br />(Sundiata Acoli) Clark Squire #39794-066<br />FCI Cumberland<br />Post Office Box 1000<br />Cumberland, Maryland 21501-1000<br /><br />On August 4th it was announced that prisoners at Central in Raleigh voted to end their hunger strike, started on July 16th in protest of conditions on Unit 1. We have not heard from prisoners at Bertie or Scotland. Small groups of prisoners at Foothills CI and Tabor CI have also said they have joined the protest. More info <a href="http://prisonbooks.info/2012/08/04/central-prisoners-vote-to-end-hunger-strike/">here</a>.&nbsp; Information on reprisals against alleged organizers can be found <a href="http://prisonbooks.info/2012/08/09/strong-8-given-six-more-months-of-solitary-as-an-example/">here</a>.<br />A prisoner at Polk CI in Butner, NC recently published a new account of life in solitary (specifically, HCON). Titled <i>Voices from the Tombs of H-CON</i>, it functions as an expose of the torturous conditions of solitary confinement in America. You can view the text in full <a href="http://prisonbookscollective.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/hcontorture.pdf">here</a>, or on our resources page.<br />The latest edition of Earth First! Newsletter&nbsp; is out. This issue includes recent dispatches from the eco-wars, an updated directory of environmental action groups, prisoner support listing, events calendar, and a clever new tip for ol’ Ned Ludd. This is a great resource for your distro table or infoshop. You can find a photo-copyable pdf of it <a href="http://earthfirstnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/litha_2012.pdf">here.</a><br /><br />Lastly, <a href="http://nycabc.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/updates-14-aug-2012.pdf">here</a> is a link to the latest Political Prisoner/Prisoner Of War every-other week update by the&nbsp; NYC-Anarchist Black Cross. There are lots of good updates on many political prisoners.<br /><br />Until Every Cage Is Empty,<br /><a href="http://prisonbooks.info/">The Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective</a>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-46179906570925640372012-09-01T00:24:00.001-07:002012-09-01T00:24:27.277-07:00Colombian Prison Strikes Continue-Inhumane Conditions “Made in the USA”<div class="post-info"> <div class="post-text"> <h2 class="post-title"></h2></div></div>by James Jordan <a href="http://afgj.org/colombian-prison-strikes-continue-inhumane-conditions-%E2%80%9Cmade-in-the-usa%E2%80%9D#more-2688">afgj.org</a><br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="alignleft" height="210" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfDIWYwXU68/T4Wxqv1FfDI/AAAAAAAAA5c/FwxHr9jqRYI/s1600/2234234-original-1.jpg" width="240" />&nbsp;</div>Strikes involving thousands of prisoners at 21 institutions continue in Colombia against the humanitarian crisis in the jails. <span id="more-2688"></span>Overcrowding is rampant and in many prisons the availability of potable water and clean, unspoiled food is severely restricted. There is little adequate health care, especially for the seriously ill. For instance, José Lamprea is a prisoner whose four year sentence is in danger of turning into a death penalty. Confined to a wheel chair by what may be bone cancer, he has still not received medical treatement that was court ordered in November, 2011.<br /><br /> Torture is so commonplace in the jails that a 2008 study by Colombia’s Committee in Solidarity with the Political Prisoners showed that when asked if the inmates had been tortured at least once during their jail time, 54% answered they had and 46% did not answer the question at all. Eighty-six percent said that they had experienced psychological torture, including threats to relatives and simulated executions.<br /><br /> Conditions in Colombian prisons should be of special concern for residents and citizens of the United States. In 2000, the US Ambassador signed an agreement with the Colombian Minister of the Interior named the Program for the Improvement of the Colombian Prison System (PICPS). Under the PICPS, the US would help build a series of new prisons to create a <a href="http://www.peopleofcolororganize.com/analysis/new-penitentiary-culture-designs-colombian-jails/">“New Penitentiary Culture”</a>. This effort has been funded and advised via USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and the US Bureau of Prisons.<br /><br /> One reason given for this program was to alleviate overcrowding. However, rates of arrests went up far more quickly than new jails and the number of political arrests that were later thrown out of court for lack of evidence rose by 300% (with most of the accused spending two to three years in jail before release). This does not include political prisoners who have been convicted for their activities. The estimated number of political prisoners has grown from 7,200 to over 10,000 since 2008.<br /> New jail construction has been less about relieving overcrowding than preparing for a much larger prison population as a result of social and economic disruption and punishing political dissent. With passage of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement many observers fear that poverty rates will worsen and crimes of desperation and prison populations will increase. Unfortunately, US and Colombian authorities see the “New Penitentiary Culture” as a model and are seeking to replicate it in <a href="http://afgj.org/usa%E2%80%99s-prison-industrial-complex-moves-south-of-the-border">Central America (where in Honduras the US has announced a new “Model Penitentiary” program) and Mexico (where the US is funding construction of 16 new federal prisons).</a><br /><br /> According to Tulio Murillo Avila, who is a national spokesperson for the Movimiento Nacional Carcelario (National Movement in the Jail),<br /><br /> <div style="padding-left: 30px;">Jail over-population…is not a new thing, being found today at a national level of 47%, due to the policies of punishment…in the new centers of incarcerations constructed under the influence of the US Bureau of Prisons. In some jails the overcrowding has reached 400%.</div><div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 428px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="281" src="http://rcnradio.s3.amazonaws.com/sites/default/files/styles/418x281/public/noticias/carcelbellavistademedellin_1344289218.jpg" width="418" /></div><div class="wp-caption-text">Bellavista Jail in Medellín</div><div class="wp-caption-text"><br /></div></div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAA9c591rms&amp;feature=g-hist">In a video-recorded interview</a> with the Colombian media outlet RPASUR (Western Colombia Alternative Press Network- <a href="http://rpasur.com/">www.rpasur.com</a> ), one prisoner representative reported that, “The gravest are the problems with hygiene in the jails and overcrowding. Colombia has a capacity for 78,000 prisoners. We find in Colombia more than 130,000 prisoners.”<strong> </strong>Almost one-third of the incarcerated are unconvicted persons awaiting trial who are mixed in with the general population and are often subjected to processes that take years before a verdict is rendered.<br /><br /> The first prison constructed with US funding and advice was<a href="http://afgj.org/a-visit-inside-colombias-most-notorious-prison-la-tramacua"> La Tramacúa</a>, located in the city of Valledupar. Although a “modern” facility built on the basis of US designs, it has become infamous for its terrible conditions. La Tramacúa has been found on at least three occasions (by agencies from the United Nations and the Department of César, as well as by an internatinoal NGO) to be serving food tainted with fecal matter. Sanitary facilities are rarely working and inmates are forced to relieve themselves in buckets and plastic bags which are “disposed of” by being thrown over prison walls.<br /> In 2010, Raquel Mogollón, a member of the Alliance for Global Justice “Colombia Watch” working group, had the chance to visit La Tramacúa with a delegation of Colombian legislators and international human rights defenders. According to Mogollón,<br /><br /> <div style="padding-left: 30px;">…Inmates say they’re getting access to water about ten minutes a day. However, in the cells there is water…disgusting, dirty water on the floors. [Editor's Note: Past visitors at La Tramacúa have reported that sewage lines often overflow and open sewage runs by kitchen facilities.]</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">The prison was absolutely, suffocatingly hot with just a few water pipes. What was really bad–I got a look at the water bottles. They were all full of mold. They aren’t able to clean their water jugs. There’s just not enough water available. At one point, you could hear the water coming through the pipes. All the men started running….</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">The whole place smelled. They said it was cleaned up for us. Mostly, it smelled like urine. They said the bags of feces had been gotten rid of….</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">The kitchen area was totally dark. They said they’d cleaned that up, too, but it wasn’t that clean. There were three fans and ten giant cauldrons where they were cooking some soup or stew. In the other room where they prepared the food, it was full of flies. There was grease all over the floor. It didn’t smell very good. I saw vegetables and fruit that were spoiled in the preparation area, with flies all around them.</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="" class=" " height="467" src="http://www.justiceforcolombia.org/news/images/1000_246.jpg" width="350" /><div class="wp-caption-text">Prisoner collecting daily water at La Tramacúa</div><div class="wp-caption-text"><br /></div></div>Since the beginning of the PICPS, there has been a series of prisoner strikes against such conditions. More often than not they have been violently repressed. Beginning on August 2, 2012, nonviolent resistance began that has included as many as 11,000 prisoners in 21 institutions and is still continuing. Prisoners have used a number of different tactics including hunger strikes, the refusal to participate in prison counts or work programs or to wear prison uniforms, and self-suspension from prison balconies and railings in make-shift hammocks and harnesses. The number one demand of the prisoners is that the Colombian government establish a National Board of Consultation that includes prisoner spokespersons in order to resolve the crisis in the jails.<br /> The prisoners have formulated an additional five basic demands:<br /> <ol><li>Declare a Social and Humanitarian Emergency in Colombian jails;</li><li>Regionalize prisoners in institutions near their families;</li><li>Reduce all sentences by 20% and increase the use of alternative sentences such as home detention;</li><li>Resolve problems of health, sanitation and overcrowding;</li><li>End the extradition of prisoners to foreign countries (which is interfering with Colombia’s internal peace process and in ongoing investigations of links between paramilitary death squads and Colombian politicians).</li></ol>The response of the Colombian Bureau of Prisons (INPEC) has so far been yet more repression and neglect. On August 10<sup>th</sup>, according to the legal collective and political prisoner solidarity organization Lazos de Dignidad (Links of Dignity), which, along with <a href="http://www.traspasalosmuros.net/">Traspasa los Muros (Beyond the Walls)</a>, which they co-founded, has been one of the primary outside organizations supporting the strikers,<br /> <div style="padding-left: 30px;">…prisoners of the La Modelo jail in Arauca informed us that, in the morning hours, INPEC guards physically attacked four prisoners in Patio One…in reprisal for their participation in the National Days of Protest…..The attacked prisoners were placed in solitary confinement instead of being…attended by medical personnel….</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">The 12<sup>th</sup> of August of 2012, in the afternoon hours, spokespersons for the 34 hunger strikers at the Penitentiary Complex of Picaleña (Ibagué, Tolima), informed us that the state of the strikers has deteriorated, [and they are] suffering severe dizziness, nausea, stomach sickness, cramps, fainting and decreased mobility, without INPEC offering adequate medical attention….</div>Of particular concern at La Picaleña has been the condition of prisoner spokesperson Alba Libia Esquivel whose health has been especially affected. Esquivel has been on a hunger strike since August 8<sup>th</sup>.<br /><br /> Lazos also reported that on August 23,<br /><br /> <div style="padding-left: 30px;">…in the afternoon hours, the Immediate Reaction Group (GRI) of INPEC entered the High Security Penitentiary in Combita, Boyacá, in a violent manner, proceding to launch tear gas and to beat the strikers, leaving various wounds….Those wounded have been taken in stretchers from their units, their whereabouts unknown.”</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div>On August 27, according to a report from Lazos,<br /> <div style="padding-left: 30px;">…in the jail of Valledupar, “La Tramacúa”…inmates of Tower Four climbed the structure as a form of protest of the present crisis in the jails. In the morning hours…Sgt. Lucio entered with a group of guards launching tear gas and repressing the protest and attacking the inmates with clubs. The prisoner Wilson Jiménez Mora, who was found suspended from the structure, was thrown from the third floor resulting in a fractured leg.</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div>Isolation from families is the single most oft-cited prisoner complaint. Most prisoners come from impoverished backgrounds and families cannot afford trips to visit faraway prisons. Also, given Colombia’s difficult terrain, and the lack of infrastructure development, a trip of 200 miles can routinely take 12-15 hours in the mountainous regions.<br /><br /> Mogollón tells of a particularly poignant encounter she had while visiting inside La Tramacúa:<br /> <div style="padding-left: 30px;">The worst thing, the worst kind of torture, wasn’t any kind of violence or anything like that. It seems little, but so many people came up to me and told me about not being able to see their families, being completely shut off. When we walked between the Towers, the prisoners were all bunched up around the gates. People would be calling to me, ‘Doctora! Doctora! Madre! Madre!’ They would want me to write their names down.</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">One man said, ‘I’ve been here eight years! I can’t see my daughter!’</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">Another said, ‘I’ve been here twelve years and I haven’t seen my mother the whole time!’</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">It was one plea after another like that, people who hadn’t seen their families for years. When I asked why, one man responded, ‘We’re poor. Our families can’t afford to make the long trips. And when we think of them coming in here, how it smells like feces, it’s so humiliating, so disgusting. It is so hard to think of them seeing us like this.</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div>Mogollón again talked about the pleas she would hear as she walked through the institution’s halls.<br /> <div style="padding-left: 30px;"><img alt="" class="alignleft" height="307" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bsDcdCtCDjg/T61ed8NeSEI/AAAAAAAAA08/DHqOSYB3rPY/s1600/carcelcolom.jpg" width="203" />&nbsp;</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">We would have to walk through these passageways that crisscrossed among the different units. All the prisoners would be crammed up at the gates and windows, calling to me, “Doctora! Doctora!’ or ‘Madre! Madre!’. I would put my hand up just to acknowledge them. They would give me papers with their names on them. One inmate called to me, ‘Please, please, Madre! I’ve been here six years and I have two hernias. I can’t get treatment, I can’t get medicine!’</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">Another told me, ‘Look, you’ve got to listen! There is no re-socialization here! There’s no such thing!’</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">Finally, at one point I stopped in one of the passageways and spoke back to them. I said, ‘Look, I wish I could help each one of you, but I can’t! I can’t because this place is modeled on a US system. This model is based on punishment and the people who designed this system don’t care about re-socialization. They don’t care what happens to you! All I can do is to go back and do what I can to change this whole system and draw attention to what you are suffering.</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;">All of a sudden, they started clapping, yelling, ‘Go on!’ and ‘You speak the truth!’</div><div style="padding-left: 30px;"><br /></div>And that is what we must do here in the US: we must go and speak the truth about this situation our government has helped create. We must intervene on behalf of Colombia’s prisoners—not only the more than 10,000 political prisoners, but on behalf of all those whose lives have been broken by the US/Corporate Empire and the neoliberal economic and political system it tries to impose throughout the world.<br /><br /> Here are some things that you can do.<br /> <ol><ol><ol><li>Cut and paste the follwing sample in Spanish or write your own message and email it to the following Colombian, United Nations and US State Department Officials, and to AfGJ, at:</li></ol></ol></ol><a href="mailto:embassyofcolombia@colombiaemb.org">embassyofcolombia@colombiaemb.org</a>, <a href="mailto:emwas@colombiaemb.org">emwas@colombiaemb.org</a>, <a href="mailto:ccuevas@colombiaemb.org">ccuevas@colombiaemb.org</a>, <a href="mailto:fsantos@presidencia.gov.co">fsantos@presidencia.gov.co</a>, <a href="mailto:ministro@minjusticia.gov.co">ministro@minjusticia.gov.co</a>, <a href="mailto:reclamos@mij.gov.co">reclamos@mij.gov.co</a>, <a href="mailto:direccion@inpec.gov.co">direccion@inpec.gov.co</a>, <a href="mailto:reclamos@inpec.gov.co">reclamos@inpec.gov.co</a>, <a href="mailto:cidhoea@oas.org">cidhoea@oas.org</a>, <a href="mailto:cidhdenuncias@oas.org">cidhdenuncias@oas.org</a>, <a href="mailto:apizarro@oas.org">apizarro@oas.org</a>, <a href="mailto:oacnudh@hchr.co">oacnudh@hchr.co</a>, <a href="mailto:secretaria_privada@hotmail.com">secretaria_privada@hotmail.com</a>, <a href="mailto:agenda@agenda.gov.co">agenda@agenda.gov.co</a>, <a href="mailto:RothenbergLL@state.gov">RothenbergLL@state.gov</a>, <a href="mailto:james@afgj.org">james@afgj.org</a><br /><br /> Todo el mundo esta observando lo que pasa en los penitenciarios en Colombia. Sabemos del hacinamiento; que las cárceles no están proviendo a sus internos las necesidades básicas como comida y agua limpia y servicio desalud; que violencia en contra de las presas y los presos es epidémico; que los servicios de resocialización son limitados y en vez se favorecen las políticas de castigo y negligencia. Yo apoyo a los y las huelgistas de las cárceles colombianas que exigen condiciones mejores y especialmente apoyo la declaración de Estado de Emergencia Carcelaria y el establecimiento de una Mesa Nacional de Concertación que incluye portavoces para las presas y los presos con la meta de resolver esta situación.<br /><br /> In ENGLISH:<br /><br /> The whole world is watching what is taking place in Colombian prisons. We know that Colombian prisons are overcrowded; that many prisons are not providing their inmates with basic necessities such as clean food and water and basic health care; that violence against prisoners is epidemic; that rehabilitation services are severely limited in favor of policies of punishment and neglect. I support Colombia’s striking prisoners in demanding better conditions and, especially, the declaration of a State of Emergency in the Colombian penal system and the establishment of a National Board of Consultation, including spokespersons for the prisoners, to remedy this situation.<br /> <ol start="2"><li>Call or fax the Colombian Embassy in Washington, DC, using the above sample or your own words. They can be reached at 202-387-8388 or you can send them a fax at 202-232-8643. </li><li>There’s a very good chance that your Representative and Senators in the US Congress do not even know about the US-sponsored PICPS and the “New Penitentiary Culture”. We encourage you to set up a visit with your elected representatives to educate them about this issue and to demand that they use their influence to call on the Colombian government to take immediate action to improve conditions in the prisons and to call for a Congressional investigation of the PICPS and the conditions it has lead to in prisons such as La Tramacúa. We must also ask them to intervene to stop this model from being further imported into Central America and Mexico. If you would be willing to organize such a visit, please send an email to <a href="mailto:James@afgj.org">James@afgj.org</a> to receive background material for your visit.</li></ol><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="360" src="http://www.anarkismo.net/attachments/jul2012/hacinamiento_carcel_colombia.jpg" width="480" /></div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-32099469141965413782012-09-01T00:18:00.001-07:002012-09-01T00:18:45.602-07:00The Marikana Massacre: Details of deliberate police murder begin to emergeAug. 31, 2012 <a href="http://libcom.org/news/marikana-massacre-details-deliberate-police-murder-begin-emerge-30082012">Libcom.org</a><br /><br /> <div class="content grid-6 alpha" id="node-page"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item odd"> <span style="font-style: italic;">This article is from the mainstream media in South Africa but has invaluable details on what actually happened when the police left 35 strikers dead and another 78 injured.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">&nbsp;</span> <br /> </div></div></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">The murder fields of Marikana. The cold murder fields of Marikana.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The majority of the dead in the 16 August massacre at Marikana appear to have been shot at close range or crushed by police vehicles. They were not caught in a fusillade of gunfire from police defending themselves, as the official account would have it. GREG MARINOVICH spent two weeks trying to understand what really happened. What he found was profoundly disturbing.</span><br /><br /> Of the 34 miners killed at Marikana, no more than a dozen of the dead were captured in news footage shot at the scene. The majority of those who died, according to surviving strikers and researchers, were killed beyond the view of cameras at a nondescript collection of boulders some 300 metres behind Wonderkop.<br /><br /> On one of these rocks, encompassed closely on all sides by solid granite boulders, is the letter ‘N’, the 14th letter of the alphabet. Here, N represents the 14th body of a striking miner to be found by a police forensics team in this isolated place. These letters are used by forensics to detail were the corpses lay.<br /><br /> There is a thick spread of blood deep into the dry soil, showing that N was shot and killed on the spot. There is no trail of blood leading to where N died – the blood saturates one spot only, indicating no further movement. (It would have been outside of the scope of the human body to crawl here bleeding so profusely.)<br /><br /> Approaching N from all possible angles, observing the local geography, it is clear that to shoot N, the shooter would have to be close. Very close, in fact, almost within touching distance. (After having spent days here at the bloody massacre site, it does not take too much imagination for me to believe that N might have begged for his life on that winter afternoon.)<br /><br /> And on the deadly Thursday afternoon, N’s murderer could only have been a policeman. I say murderer because there is not a single report on an injured policeman from the day. I say murderer because there seems to have been no attempt to uphold our citizens’ right to life and fair recourse to justice. It is hard to imagine that N would have resisted being taken into custody when thus cornered. There is no chance of escape out of a ring of police.<br /><br /> Other letters denote equally morbid scenarios. J and H died alongside each other. They, too, had no route of escape and had to have been shot at close range.<br /><br /> Other letters mark the rocks nearby. A bloody handprint stains a vertical rock surface where someone tried to support themselves standing up; many other rocks are splattered with blood as miners died on the afternoon of 16 August.<br /><br /> None of these events were witnessed by media or captured on camera. They were only reported on as component parts in the sum of the greater tragedy.<br /><br /> One of the striking miners caught up in the mayhem, let’s call him “Themba”, though his name is known to the Daily Maverick, recalled what he saw once he escaped the killing fields around Wonderkop.<br /><br /> “Most people then called for us to get off the mountain, and as we were coming down, the shooting began. Most people who were shot near the kraal were trying to get into the settlement; the blood we saw is theirs. We ran in the other direction, as it was impossible now to make it through the bullets.<br /> “We ran until we got to the meeting spot and watched the incidents at the koppie. Two helicopters landed; soldiers and police surrounded the area. We never saw anyone coming out of the koppie.”<br /> The soldiers he refers to were, in fact, part of the police task team dressed in camouflage uniforms, brought to the scene in a brown military vehicle. Asked about this, Themba said he believed people were hiding at the koppie, and police went in and killed them.<br /><br /> In the days after the shooting, Themba visited friends at the nearby mine hospital. “Most people who are in hospital were shot at the back. The ones I saw in hospital had clear signs of being run over by the Nyalas,” he said. “I never got to go to the mortuary, but most people who went there told me that they couldn’t recognise the faces of the dead (they were so damaged by either bullets of from being driven over).”<br /><br /> It is becoming clear to this reporter that heavily armed police hunted down and killed the miners in cold blood. A minority were killed in the filmed event where police claim they acted in self-defence. The rest was murder on a massive scale.<br /><br /> Peter Alexander, chair in Social Change and professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg, and two researchers interviewed witnesses in the days after the massacre. Researcher Botsong Mmope spoke to a miner, Tsepo, on Monday 20 August. Tsepo (not his real name) witnessed some of the events that occurred off camera.<br /><br /> “Tsepo said many people had been killed at the small koppie and it had never been covered (by the media). He agreed to take us to the small koppie, because that is where many, many people died,” Mmope said.<br /><br /> After the shooting began, Tsepo said, he was among many who ran towards the small koppie. As the police chased them, someone among them said, “Let us lie down, comrades, they will not shoot us then.”<br /><br /> “At that time, there were bullets coming from a helicopter above them. Tsepo then lay down. A number of fellow strikers also lay down. He says he watched Nyalas driving over the prostrate, living miners,” Mmope said. “Other miners ran to the koppie, and that was where they were shot by police and the army** with machine guns.” (** Several witnesses and speakers at the miners' gathering referring to the army, or amajoni, actually refer to a police task team unit in camouflage uniforms and carrying R5 semi-automatic files on the day. – GM)<br /><br /> When the firing finally ceased, Tsepo managed to escape across the veld to the north.<br /><br /> It took several days for police to release the number of those killed. The number 34 surprised most of us. With only about a dozen bodies recorded by the media, where exactly had the remaining miners been killed, and how did they die?<br /><br /> Most journalists and others did not interrogate this properly. The violence of the deaths we could see, again and again, was enough to contend with. The police certainly did not mention what happened outside of the view of the cameras.<br /><br /> The toll of 112 mineworkers (34 dead and 78 wounded) at Marikana is one of those few bitter moments in our bloody history that has been captured by the unblinking eye of the lens. Several lenses, in fact, and from various viewpoints.<br /><br /> This has allowed the actions and reactions of both the strikers and the police to be scrutinised in ways that undocumented tragedies can never be. Therefore, while the motives and rationale of both parties will never be completely clear, their deeds are quite apparent.<br /><br /> Thus developed a dominant narrative within the public discourse. The facts have been fed by the police, various state entities and by the media that the strikers provoked their own deaths by charging and shooting at the forces of law and order. Indeed, the various images and footage can be read to support this claim.<br /><br /> The contrary view is that the striking miners were trying to escape police rubber bullets and tear gas when they ran at the heavily armed police task team (our version of SWAT). The result was the horrific images of a dozen or so men gunned down in a fusillade of automatic fire.<br /><br /> From the outside the jumble of granite at Small Koppie, the weathered remains of a prehistoric hill, it would appear that nothing more brutal than the felling of the straggly indigenous trees for firewood occurred here.<br /><br /> Once within the outer perimeter, narrow passages between the weathered bushveld rocks lead into dead ends. Scattered piles of human faeces and toilet paper mark the area as the communal toilet for those in the miners’ shack community without pit toilets.<br /><br /> It is inside here, hidden from casual view, that the rocks bear the yellow letters methodically sprayed on by the forensic team to denote where they found the miners’ bodies. The letter N appears to take the death toll at this site to 14. Some of the other letters are difficult to discern, especially where they were sprayed on the dry grass and sand.<br /><br /> The yellow letters speak as if they are the voices of the dead. The position of the letters, denoting the remains of once sweating, panting, cursing, pleading men, tell a story of policemen hunting men like beasts. They tell of tens of murders at close range, in places hidden from the plain sight.<br /> N, for example, died in a narrow redoubt surrounded on four sides by solid rock. His killer could not have been further than two meters from him – the geography forbids any other possibility.<br /><br /> Why did this happen?<br /><br /> Let us look back at the events of Monday, 13 August, three days prior to these events.<br /> Themba, a second-generation miner from the Eastern Cape, was present then too. He was part of a group of some 30 strikers who were delegated to cross the veld that separated them from another Lonmin platinum mine, Karee.<br /><br /> It was at Karee mine that other rock drill operators led a wildcat strike to demand better wages. The National Union of Mineworkers did not support them, and management took a tough line. The strike was unsuccessful, with many of the strikers losing their jobs. The Marikana miners figured there were many miners there still angry enough to join them on Wonderkop.<br /><br /> The Marikana strikers never reached their fellow workers; instead, mine security turned them back and told them to return by a route different from the one they had come by.<br /><br /> On this road, they met a contingent of police. Themba said there were some 10 Nyalas and one or two police trucks or vans. The police barred their way and told them to lay down their weapons. The workers refused, saying they needed the pangas to cut wood, as they lived in the bush, and more honestly, that they were needed to defend themselves.<br /><br /> The Friday before, they said, three of their number had been killed by people wearing red NUM T-shirts.<br /><br /> The police line parted and they were allowed to continue, but once they were about 10 metres past, the police opened fire on them.<br /><br /> The miners turned and took on the police.<br /><br /> It was here, he said, that they killed two policemen and injured another. The police killed two miners and injured a third severely, from helicopter gunfire, Themba said. The miners carried the wounded man back to Wonderkop, where he was taken to hospital in a car. His fate is unknown.<br /><br /> Police spokesman Captain Dennis Adriao, when asked about the incident by telephone, said public order policing officers were attacked by miners, who hacked the two policemen to death and critically injured another. He said eight people had been arrested until then for that incident and for the 10 deaths prior to 16 August. “Two are in custody in hospital who were injured in the attack on the police.”<br /><br /> The police version of how this event took place is quite different from that of Themba, but what is clear is that the police had already arrested people for the murders committed thus far.<br /><br /> Why, then, the urgency to confront those among the thousands camped on Wonderkop in the days leading up to the massacre on 16 August?<br /><br /> But let us, in this article, not get too distracted by this obvious question, and return to the events of 16 August itself.<br /><br /> The South African Government Information website still carries this statement, dated from the day of the Marikana massacre:<br /><br /> “Following extensive and unsuccessful negotiations by SAPS members to disarm and disperse a heavily armed group of illegal gatherers at a hilltop close to Lonmin Mine, near Rustenburg in the North West Province, the South African Police Service was viciously attacked by the group, using a variety of weapons, including firearms. The Police, in order to protect their own lives and in self-defence, were forced to engage the group with force. This resulted in several individuals being fatally wounded, and others injured.”<br /><br /> This police statement clearly states that the police acted in self-defence, despite the fact that not a single policeman suffered any injury on 16 August.<br /><br /> And as we discussed earlier, it is possible to interpret what happened in the filmed events as an over-reaction by the police to a threat. What happened afterwards, 400 metres away at Small Koppie, is quite different. That police armoured vehicles drove over prostrate miners cannot be described as self-defence or as any kind of public order policing.<br /><br /> The geography of those yellow spray painted letters tells a chilling and damning story and lends greater credence to what the strikers have been saying.<br /><br /> One miner, on the morning after the massacre, told Daily Maverick that, “When one of our miners passed a Nyala, there was a homeboy of his from the Eastern Cape inside, and he told him that today was D-day, that they were to come and shoot. He said there was a paper signed allowing them to shoot us.”<br /><br /> The language reportedly used by the policeman is strikingly similar to that used by Adriao early on 16 August, and quoted on MineWeb: “We have tried over a number of days to negotiate with the leaders and with the gathering here at the mine, our objective is to get the people to surrender their weapons and to disperse peacefully.”<br /><br /> “Today is D-day in terms of if they don't comply then we will have to act ... we will have to take steps,” he said.<br /><br /> A little later he commented: “Today is unfortunately D-day,” police spokesman Dennis Adriao said. “It is an illegal gathering. We've tried to negotiate and we'll try again, but if that fails, we'll obviously have to go to a tactical phase.”<br /><br /> Speaking to the possible intention of the police, let us look at how the deployed police were armed. The weapons used by the majority of the more than 400 police on the scene were R5 (a licensed replica of the Israeli Galil SAR) or LM5 assault rifles, designed for infantry and tactical police use. These weapons cannot fire rubber bullets. The police were clearly deployed in a military manner – to take lives, not to deflect possible riotous behaviour.<br /><br /> The death of their comrades three days previously set the stage for the police, who have been increasingly accused of brutality, torture and death in detention, to exact their revenge. What is unclear is how high up the chain of command this desire went.<br /><br /> There has been police obfuscation and selective silence in a democratic society where the police are, theoretically, accountable to the citizenry, as well as to our elected representatives. We live in a country where people are assumed innocent until proven guilty; where summary executions are not within the police’s discretion.<br /><br /> Let us be under no illusion. The striking miners are no angels. They can be as violent as anyone else in our society. And in an inflamed setting such as at Marikana, probably more so. They are angry, disempowered, feel cheated and want more than a subsistence wage. Whatever the merits of their argument, and the crimes of some individuals among them, more than 3,000 people gathering at Wanderkop did not merit being vulnerable to summary and entirely arbitrary execution at the hands of a paramilitary police unit.<br /><br /> In light of this, we could look at the events of 16 August as the murder of 34 and the attempted murder of a further 78 who survived despite the police’s apparent intention to kill them.<br /><br /> Back at the rocks the locals dubbed Small Koppie, a wild pear flowers among the debris of the carnage and human excrement; a place of horror that has until now remained terra incognita to the public. It could also be the place where the Constitution of South Africa has been dealt a mortal blow. DM<br /><br /> Note: We have put these questions to the police and they state that they are unable to comment on, or give further detail regarding, to what happened at and around Small Koppie 13 August. We are awaiting comment from the IPID. <br /> </div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-8654760965325047942012-09-01T00:14:00.001-07:002012-09-01T00:14:27.720-07:00Grand Jury Dates and Demonstrations PostponedAug 30, 2012 <a href="http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/updates-and-thanks/">nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com</a><br /><br />Thanks to everyone who called in today. Hundreds of people flooded the <br />US attorney's office with calls. This afternoon the people subpoenaed <br />for tomorrow's grand jury hearing received word that their appearances <br />were being postponed till mid September.<br /><br />As of now, the solidarity demonstrations in Portland, Oregon and <br />Seattle, Washington have been postponed until the next appearance dates. <br />We will update the website when we have more details about dates and times.<br /><br />Again thanks to everyone who has been calling, attending or planning <br />solidarity demos, putting on benefits and donating money. Your <br />solidarity and support is much appreciated.<br /><br />****************************************************************<br />*"Solidarity is What the State Fears"*<http: nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com="nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com" solidarity-is-what-the-state-fears="solidarity-is-what-the-state-fears"></http:><br /><http: nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com="nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com" solidarity-is-what-the-state-fears="solidarity-is-what-the-state-fears"><br />Posted on August 28, 2012 <br /><http: nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com="nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com" solidarity-is-what-the-state-fears="solidarity-is-what-the-state-fears"><br />A statement from Leah-Lynn Plante on her refusal to testify before the <br />grand jury<br /><br />August 28, 2012<br /><br />My name is Leah-Lynn Plante, and I am one of the people who has been <br />subpoenaed to a secret grand jury, meeting in Seattle on August 30.<br /><br />This will be the second time I have appeared before the grand jury, and <br />the second time I have refused to testify. The first time was on August <br />2. I appeared, as ordered, and I identified myself. Then the US Attorney <br />asked if I would be willing to answer her questions. I said, No, and was <br />issued another subpoena, this time for the 30th.<br /><br />A month later, my answer is still the same. No, I will not answer their <br />questions. I believe that these hearings are politically motivated. The <br />government wants to use them to collect information that it can use in a <br />campaign of repression. I refuse to have any part of it.<br /><br />It is likely that the government will put me in jail for that refusal.<br /><br />I hate the very idea of prison. But I know, if I am sent there, I will <br />not be alone. I can only speak for myself, but I have every faith that <br />the others subpoenaed to these hearings will likewise refuse. And I know <br />that hundreds of people have called the US Attorney demanding that they <br />end this tribunal. Hundreds of organizations, representing thousands of <br />people, signed onto a statement expressing solidarity with those of us <br />under attack and demanding an end to this sort of repression.<br /><br />I know that those people will continue to support me, and the others <br />subpoenaed, and the targets of the investigation. That spirit of <br />solidarity is exactly what the state fears. It is the source of our <br />strength, yours and mine. And that strength shows itself in every act of <br />resistance.<br /></http:></http:>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-76269152162837031822012-09-01T00:11:00.001-07:002012-09-01T00:11:04.824-07:00Facing Grand Jury Intimidation: Fear, Silence and Solidarity <span class="itemDateCreated"> Thursday, 30 August 2012 </span><span class="itemAuthor">By <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/index.php?option=com_k2&amp;view=itemlist&amp;task=user&amp;id=47223&amp;Itemid=252">Natasha Lennard</a>, <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/11181-facing-grand-jury-intimidation-fear-silence-and-solidarity">Truthout</a>&nbsp;</span> <br /><br /><div class="itemFullText"> <span class="wf_caption" style="display: inline-block; float: right; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px;"><img alt="Brass Gavel" height="459" src="http://truth-out.org/images/083012-2.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px;" width="306" /><span style="clear: both; display: block; margin-top: 3px; text-align: left; width: 306px;">(Photo: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;searchterm=gavel&amp;search_group=&amp;orient=&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;color=&amp;show_color_wheel=1#id=47877127&amp;src=9876af40309633b49ed3bb9c48c406c9-3-77" target="_blank">Brass Gavel</a> via Shutterstock)</span></span>We've seen some pretty bold anti-authoritarian actions across the country in the last month. Police vehicles were vandalized in San Francisco, Oakland, Illinois and Milwaukee. Anarchist redecorators visited courthouses, police substations, sports car dealerships and more. Banners dropped in New York, Atlanta, Vancouver, Seattle and elsewhere echoed their graffitied sentiments: "Fuck Grand Juries"; "Solidarity with Northwest Anarchists." Boldest of all, however (and the inspiration underpinning this spate), has been the action from a small group of anarchists in the Pacific Northwest: silence.<br /><br /> Two Portland-based activists, Leah-Lynn Plante and Dennison Williams, publicly announced late last month that they had been subpoenaed to appear in front of a federal grand jury in Seattle and that they would refuse to cooperate. During a grand jury hearing on August 2, Plante did just this - offering her name and birthdate only - and has been summoned to return for another hearing on August 30, where she again intends to say nothing. Meanwhile, it is believed a handful of other activists are fighting to quash subpoenas served to them with the shared intention of noncooperation.<br /> Grand juries are among the blackest boxes in the federal judiciary system. Given their highly secretive nature, few people within - or outside - activist circles know what it means to be called to a grand jury and what it takes to resist.<br /><br /> "Our passion for freedom is stronger than their state prisons," Williams announced in a statement on behalf of himself and Plante about their intention to resist the grand jury, referencing the fact that by merely staying silent, the two could face considerable jail time, despite facing no criminal charges.<br /> The Seattle grand jury subpoenas were served in late July, when the FBI and a Joint Terrorist Task Force conducted a series of raids on activist homes and squats in Portland, Olympia and Seattle with warrants seeking out computers, phones, black clothing and "anarchist literature." The FBI has stated only that the grand jury pertains to "violent crime," but it is believed to relate to property damage in Seattle during this year's May Day protests. The relatively small scale of the property destruction - a handful of spraypainted cars, slashed tires and smashed windows at a downtown Starbucks, Niketown, Wells Fargo and American Apparel store - in comparison to the cost of the police and FBI investigations points to the likelihood that the raids and grand juries have been widely dubbed a witch hunt, understood by commentators and activists alike as an attempt to intimidate, deter and undermine anarchists in the Northwest and beyond.<br /><br /> Will Potter, author of "Green is the New Red," who has long covered the state persecution of environmental activists and anarchists, noted in a recent interview with The Dissenter, "I think what's most indicative of what's going on though is that specific call for agents to seize 'anarchist literature' as some kind of evidence of potential illegal activity." He added that the convening of a grand jury is "especially troubling because grand juries have been used historically against social movements <a href="http://truth-out.org/http:/dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/07/31/interview-greenisthenewred-coms-will-potter-on-fbi-raids-grand-juries-political-repression/" target="_blank">as tools of fishing expeditions, and they're used to seek out information about people's politics and their political associations</a>."<br /><br /> Ironically, however, the purported purpose of a federal grand jury is to act as "a safeguard to the accused from the improper motivations of government"- <a href="http://peopleslawoffice.com/improper-use-of-federal-grand-jury-michael-deutsch-political-repression/" target="_blank">to protect the accused from prosecutorial overreach</a>. A jury of between 16 and 23 civilians hears evidence from a given investigation brought by a prosecutor (the US attorney) in the form of documents, recordings and witnesses, and decides whether there are grounds to move forward with an indictment. However, the grand jury process has been long and regularly used as a form of political repression. According to Heidi Boghosian, director of the National Lawyers Guild (the NLG is a group with a long history of advising grand jury resisters), "abuse of grand juries includes attempts to gather intelligence or information otherwise not easily obtained by the FBI." As such, the grand jury process has been used to probe and intimidate activist groups of various stripes, from the Puerto Rican Independence Movement last century, to black liberationists, environmentalists and anarchists.<br /><br /> For the grand jury resisters themselves, the time during which a grand jury sits (typically 18 months) is a harrowing one. As the NLG's Boghosian explained: "If someone receives a grand jury subpoena and decides not to cooperate, that person may be held in civil contempt. There is a chance that the individual may be jailed or imprisoned for the length of the grand jury in an effort to coerce the person to cooperate."<br /><br /> "It's actually lawful for the prosecution to hold an individual in order to coerce cooperation, but unlawful to hold the person as a form of punishment," said Boghosian. "In addition to facing civil contempt, in some instances a non-cooperator may face criminal contempt charges."<br /> For example, in 2009, Utah-based animal rights activist Jordan Halliday spent jail time for civil contempt and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for criminal contempt for his effusive noncooperation with a grand jury. And many resisters who were not jailed nonetheless recount traumatic experiences.<br /><br /> "I thought I was doomed. I had nightmares, night sweats, turned heavily to drinking and drugs," said a 23-year-old anarchist who refused to cooperate with a grand jury in 2009 in New York, which reportedly convened in regard to the placement of an incendiary device in a metropolitan area believed to be connected to anti-war activism. The young man, who requested to remain anonymous, remembers feeling "helpless," believing that at any point, he could be put in jail for his political silence.<br /><br /> However, he equally recalls the comfort he felt in learning that support committees - people he did not even know - were forming and organizing solidarity actions for him. "People having each other's back - it's one thing we do have," he said.<br /><br /> And indeed, statements and acts of solidarity with the Northwest resisters have been numerous and widespread. "Part of the purpose of grand juries seems to be to isolate people from a network of support, the support that puts them in a stronger place to resist," said Kristian Williams, a member of the <a href="http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Committee Against Political Repression</a>, which formed in support of the grand jury resisters.<br /> "Solidarity actions and support also communicate to the state that people are paying attention to how the situation is being handled. Knowing that there is public opposition - not just a small group of friends outside a courtroom, but people all around the country - hopefully raises the political cost for the US attorney to continue this repression," he added. Hundreds of people have already put in calls to the US attorney to express opposition to the treatment of Northwest anarchists, while over 350 organizations have signed on to a petition of opposition put out by the Committee Against Political Repression. Meanwhile, as mentioned above, banner drops, graffiti and other acts have been dedicated to the grand jury resisters in the past month. A national day of action has been called for August 30 to coincide with Plante's second hearing.<br /><br /> For the New York-based resister, his act of political silence not only affirmed certain ideas about solidarity, but served as striking proof of personal resolve: "In a strange way, you show yourself something important when you resist a grand jury. The things you say, the things you believe, you find yourself actually acting upon them, even though you know it could cost you a chunk of your life."<br /><br /> "It has a very powerful effect on yourself," he said.<br /><br /> It is a sentiment seemingly understood by the anarchists in the Northwest as they begin their grand jury resistance ordeals. While inviting solidarity and support in their public statement, Plante and Dennison added, "You can show your solidarity by refusing to co-operate with any police force and encouraging your friends and families to do the same."<br /> </div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-81867351815701890632012-09-01T00:06:00.001-07:002012-09-01T00:06:33.741-07:00Charges Dropped Against May Day Protestor Maria Jannett Morales<span class="bylineAuthor">By <a href="http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/author.php?author_id=476">Keegan Hamilton</a></span> <span class="bylineDate">Mon., Aug. 27 2012</span> <a href="http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2012/08/riot_charges_dropped_against_m.php">Seattle Weekly</a><br /><div class="byLine"></div><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EMH-sZoR0jg" width="560"></iframe><br /><div class="byLine">After reviewing YouTube video of the May Day riot, King County prosecutors dismissed all charges against a protestor accused of punching a bike cop.</div>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=30311353" name="more"></a> <br />Maria Jannett Morales, 30, was <a href="http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2012/06/maria_jannett_morales_may_day.php" target="_blank">charged with assault in the fourth degree</a>, a felony, for an incident that occurred near the intersection of First Avenue and Pike Street a few minutes before 6 p.m. on May 1, just as the day's rioting was starting to simmer down.<br /><br />According to a probable cause statement statement submitted to prosecutors by Seattle police, bike cop Sonya Fry was ordering a crowd to move back when Morales walked up, said "okay bitch," and punched the female officer in the chest with a closed fist. Morales then allegedly kicked another cop in the leg.<br /><br />SPD's version of events was called into question by amateur video from the scene uploaded to YouTube. The footage seems to show Morales walking past Fry, obeying orders. Then, after a brief verbal exchange, Fry grabs Morales by the shoulders and hair and pulls her down.On August 17, the charge was abruptly dropped. Dan Donahoe, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, says the video was a factor.<br /><br />"We reviewed video of the alleged incident and felt that we could no longer prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt so the charge was dismissed," Donohoe says.<br /><br />Aaron Pelley, Morales' attorney, says prosecutors had no business filing charges in the first place.<br />"Maria didn't really hit that officer," Pelley says. "There's nothing in my mind that thinks somebody didn't yell at that officer, or she didn't feel somebody hit her. But as far as I can tell, it wasn't my client."<br /><br />Morales has no criminal record aside from a few traffic tickets. Nevertheless, Pelley says she lost her job as an emergency room technician in Bellevue because of the arrest.<br /><br />"I don't know that she comes out ahead on all of this," Pelley says. "But we're certainly glad the prosecutors looked at the evidence and decided to dismiss."<br /><br />Morales is the second May Day protestor to have charges dismissed because of YouTube video. <a href="http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2012/05/joshua_alex_garland_case_shows.php" target="_blank">Joshua Garland was similarly cleared of wrongdoing</a> on May 15.<br /><br />Two others have pleaded guilty. Robert Ditrani pleaded guilty on June 22 to disorderly conduct. He was sentenced July 6 and received a 90-day suspended sentence and 12 months of probation. Paul Campiche pleaded guilty on August 22 to attempted assault in the third degree. He will be sentenced October 5. <br /><br />See an extended cut of the YouTube video that shows Morales arrest, and court documents associated with her case on the following page.<br /><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/104009051/Maria-Morales-Order-of-Dismissal" style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px auto; text-decoration: underline;" title="View Maria Morales Order of Dismissal on Scribd">Maria Morales Order of Dismissal</a><br /><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/96093011/Maria-Jannett-Morales-Charges?secret_password=1trop5s48xc9xjwqb72p" style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px auto; text-decoration: underline;" title="View Maria Jannett Morales Charges on Scribd">Maria Jannett Morales Charges</a><br /><b>This post was updated Monday, August 27, at 1 p.m. The original version mistakenly reported that Morales was charged with third-degree assault, disorderly conduct, and rioting. Her charge was actually fourth-degree assault.</b>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-84351084250378027322012-09-01T00:02:00.001-07:002012-09-01T00:02:13.306-07:00Call the White House on Friday for Leonard Peltier*AIM for Freedom Campaign: Bring Leonard Home!*<br /><br />The Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee is presenting their <br />campaign plans to our supporters, friends and allies in the 36-year <br />movement to bring Leonard Peltier home. With Leonard in our minds, <br />hearts and spirit, we will try to bring him home. That is our goal and <br />commitment, and we will do this is with your support. This outline means <br />nothing without each of you rising to this call and putting your energy <br />into it.<br /><br />In the urgent spirit of this campaign, we will begin directing our <br />concerns to those with the ability to influence change, namely, <br />President Obama.<br /><br />**Write a letter to Obama about your feelings and outrage at Leonard’s <br />continued imprisonment.<br /><br />The Honorable Barack H. Obama<br />President of The United States of America<br />The White House<br />1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW<br />Washington, DC 20500<br />Comments: 202-456-1111<br />White House Fax: 202-456-2461<br />TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213<br /><br />**Encourage your church leaders and members to write President Obama, <br />including any humanitarian groups on their stationary.<br /><br />Contact congressional delegates. Schedule a meeting to talk with them <br />about Leonard’s case. This is your opportunity to urge them to take a <br />position on Leonard’s release. Seize the opportunity to educate members <br />of Congress who may not know the specifics of the case or even about <br />Leonard Peltier. Meet with those who are sitting on the fence. Others <br />who are long-time supporters need to be asked to become Leonard’s <br />champions in this important year. You might want to frame your request <br />for a meeting with a phrase similar to “How may we work together to seek <br />justice for Native Americans? How may I help you in your role as a <br />leader?” Then ASK your representative, along with his colleagues, to <br />write a personal letter to President Obama urging the immediate release <br />of Leonard Peltier.<br /><br />*Talking points:*<br /><br />1. Leonard has served over 36 years in prison.<br />2. The government has conceded that it does not know who shot the two<br />agents.<br />3. The government is still fighting vigorously to prevent the release<br />of thousands of pages of documents under FOIA – documents that<br />should have been turned over to defense attorneys years ago.<br />4. Leonard will be 68 on September 12th; he is not in the best of health.<br /><br />*Tribal Council Resolutions* (If tribal member)<br /><br />Contact us to assist you in getting a resolution passed by your tribal <br />council.<br /><br />*Phone Actions Every Friday: Call the White House for Leonard: 202-456-1112*<br /><br />The average hold time has been 5-6 minutes. If we are waiting 10-15, <br />then we are building our presence in the White House for Leonard. This <br />is necessary and must be maintained.<br /><br />*International Supporters:* Write letters to President Obama, and urge <br />your government/parliament, etc. to issue an official position on <br />Peltier’s case and to bring Peltier up to the state department and <br />Obama. Also, contact your U.N. representatives to consider a resolution <br />directed to President Obama to carefully review the Peltier case, in <br />regards to clemency.<br /><br />Hillary R. Clinton, Secretary of State<br />U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20520<br /><br />This time, the agents who have opposed Leonard’s bid for freedom will <br />fail, because the lies will not be covered up or twisted. They are <br />afraid Obama will do the right thing, so join us in setting this prairie <br />fire for Leonard for the last time! He doesn’t have the luxury of time, <br />and we have none to waste.<br /><br />Don’t anyone dare let their hearts hit the ground because we have to <br />work harder to get him out after his birthday. The most powerful means <br />of accomplishing our goal is to know in your heart that this will <br />happen. And if we get some good news, such as a transfer, don’t let up. <br />Instead, increase your efforts and never stop believing you will be a <br />part of something wonderful and honorable.<br /><br />*Sample letter to President Obama:*<br /><br />Your name<br />Address<br />City, State, Zip Code<br /><br />The Honorable Barack H. Obama<br />President of The United States of America<br />The White House<br />1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW<br />Washington, DC 20500<br /><br />re: Leonard Peltier USP #89637-132<br /><br />Dear President Obama,<br /><br />This letter is among millions that have been written to US presidents on <br />behalf of Leonard Peltier in the past 36 years of his incarceration. <br />Foreign heads of state and world religious leaders, members of Congress <br />and even a federal judge who was hamstrung by legal precedents have <br />asked for clemency in Peltier's case.<br /><br />The deaths of the agents is a horrible tragedy for their families, but a <br />even greater tragedy is being done to Mr. Peltier, who has been <br />nominated for the Nobel prize six times for his humanitarian works from <br />behind prison walls.<br /><br />As an American citizen, my conscience has been haunted by the inability <br />of previous administrations to do the right thing and let Peltier go <br />home. When I look at the trial as a whole, there is shocking information <br />about FBI and prosecutorial misconduct in his case. What happened, Mr. <br />President, that an American, an American Indian at that, can languish in <br />a federal prison for so long without a real look at what happened to him?<br /><br />I have been aware that some federal agents have been actively <br />undermining Mr. Peltier's efforts for years. They have lied about the <br />evidence and testimony, and ignore evidence to the contrary in their <br />statements to keep Mr. Peltier imprisoned. Attorney General Janet Reno <br />reprimanded FBI Director Freeh for voicing his complaint publicly.<br /><br />Mr. President, we ask that you please take a very detailed review of Mr. <br />Peltier's cases, including the withheld FBI records supposedly <br />classified for national security reasons, inquire about his transfer to <br />a medium security facility that meets his classification, and grant <br />clemency. Mr. Peltier also is eligible for a parole under a 30 year law, <br />but has not been granted this according to 28 U.S.C., section 4206(d).<br /><br />When you were elected to the Oval Office, millions of us felt we were <br />granted a fresh of breath air, and through this we hope that you will <br />grant Mr. Peltier a breath of fresh free air. I'm sure you will see the <br />world rejoice.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Your name<br /><br />*AIM for FREEDOM!!!! IN THE SPIRIT OF CRAZY HORSE*<br />Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee<br />PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106<br />Phone: 701/235-2206 • Fax: 701/235-5045<br />E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info <br /><mailto:contact whoisleonardpeltier.info="whoisleonardpeltier.info"><br />whoisleonardpeltier.info <http: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info="www.whoisleonardpeltier.info"></http:></mailto:contact>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-41681636059467230142012-09-01T00:00:00.001-07:002012-09-01T00:00:37.271-07:00Damn it, Richard, what the f***?!<em><strong>by Belvin Louie and Miriam Ching Yoon Louie <a href="http://sfbayview.com/2012/damn-it-richard-what-the-f/">SF BayView</a></strong></em><br /> Belvin writes:<br /> <ol><li><div class="img alignright wp-image-30684" style="width: 318px;"> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Richard_Aoki_comrades_on_UC_Berkeley_TWLF_Solidarity_newspaper_front_page_03693.jpg"><img alt="" height="288" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Richard_Aoki_comrades_on_UC_Berkeley_TWLF_Solidarity_newspaper_front_page_03693.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div>The front page of the March 1969 issue of the UC Berkeley Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) newspaper shows TWLF strike leaders Richard Aoki of the Asian American Political Alliance, Charlie Brown of the Afro American Student Union and Manuel Delgado of the Mexican American Student Confederation representing Third World solidarity. – Photo: Muhammad Speaks, courtesy of Bea Dong</div></div>FBI <ol><li>I don’t trust anything that the FBI says, even in its own documents.</li><li>The FBI has a long establish track record of sowing dissent and lies.</li><li>It’s odd that in the FBI document referenced by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) video exposé, all names were blacked out, except for “Richard Aoki.”</li><li>The agent said, “I helped develop him.” This sounds like bragging to me.</li></ol></li><li>Seth Rosenfeld <ol><li>Seth Rosenfeld is a longtime journalist.</li><li>He’s trying to generate a buzz to sell his book.</li><li>All allegations refer to the period from when Richard was supposedly recruited right out of high school, up to and including 1967.</li></ol></li><li>Richard Aoki <ol><li>Richard always talked about guns, the “pigs and/or fools.”</li><li>Richard was super paranoid – “They’re always listening.” Richard never said anything sensitive over the phone. This is counter to what the FBI agent said on tape about Richard providing reports to him over the phone. In fact, the walkway to Richard’s rear upstairs apartment was purposely covered with loose gravel so that anyone approaching had to make a racket.</li><li>He grew up in the internment camps and often spoke about being raised 200 percent American to prove himself.</li><li>He served in the US Army as an arms specialist.</li><li>He was a well-read intellectual.</li><li>Richard’s 2009 response to Rosenfeld’s questioning was “Oh, that’s interesting.” This is a typical Richard response to draw out more information from Rosenfeld before he responded later in the interview that the FBI statements were not true.</li></ol></li></ol>While it is possible that he was “recruited” right out of high school when he was “200 percent American,” this remains only an allegation in my opinion. Besides, what are the specific impacts or consequences of Richard’s alleged reports to the FBI? None are mentioned that are tied specifically to Richard.<br /><br /> <div class="img alignleft wp-image-30689" style="width: 322px;"> <a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/TWLF+strikers%E2%80%99+picket+line+being+pushed+by+police+Sather+Gate+UC+Berkeley+19692.jpg"><img alt="" height="264" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/TWLF+strikers%E2%80%99+picket+line+being+pushed+by+police+Sather+Gate+UC+Berkeley+19692.jpg" width="322" /></a> <div>As much as authorities fear militant Blacks, they fear multi-racial solidarity even more – witness last year’s California prison hunger strikes. Here, Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikers’ picket line is being pushed by police at Sather Gate, UC Berkeley, in 1969. – Photo: Stand Up Archives, courtesy of Bea Dong</div><div>&nbsp;</div></div>I was stunned by the allegations that Richard was an FBI agent. I never saw any signs of it since I started running with him in 1968. That said, I would be inclined to give Richard the benefit of the doubt. One’s life should be judged by its totality, not by short periods nor by a few of the mistakes we human beings inevitably make along life’s journey.<br /><br />Miriam asks:<br /><br /> Why do I feel like me and my peeps just got yellow periled and willie hortoned? By a white dude in a suit? Why is fanning racial fear to sell product still called “yellow” not “white” journalism?<br /><br /> Cowardice in journalism triumphs when an experienced reporter uses insufficient evidence to accuse a movement leader of being an FBI informer betraying the Black Panther Party and others – after the brother is dead and the crows and worms have already done their work. It’s a shameful day when the reporter detonates this bomb in multiple media outlets as the first-day publicity launch for his book – even though the accused, Richard Aoki, and his movements are but a sideline in a book about Ronald Reagan, the FBI, Mario Savio, the Free Speech Movement and Clark Kerr. Sorry, Ronny, J. Edgar, Mario and Clark. Y’all white guys will never be as sexy as “sneaky japs” and “negroes with guns.” Remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_9066">Executive Order 9066</a>. Remember COINTELPRO. Remember the Maine, William Randolph Hearst and “yellow” journalism.<br /><br /> <h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: maroon;">Cowardice in journalism triumphs when an experienced reporter uses insufficient evidence to accuse a movement leader of being an FBI informer betraying the Black Panther Party and others – after the brother is dead and the crows and worms have already done their work.</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: maroon;">&nbsp;</span></h3>It’s a sorry day when a reporter employs the Great White Hunter (GWH) school of hype, luring prey into the lair, building trust and then springing the gotcha! trap, as his cameraman zooms in on his prey’s distress. That’s what GWH did to our bro Harvey Dong for Rosenfeld’s Center for Investigative Reporting video blast, “The Man Who Armed the Panthers.”<br /><br /> <div class="img wp-image-30691 alignleft" style="width: 382px;"> <a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Richard+Aoki%E2%80%99s+memorial+tableau+w+candles+rice+sake+050209+by+Andre+Nguyen.jpg"><img alt="" height="256" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Richard+Aoki%E2%80%99s+memorial+tableau+w+candles+rice+sake+050209+by+Andre+Nguyen.jpg" width="382" /></a> <div>At Richard Aoki’s memorial on May 2, 2009, was this stunning tableau of his life – the main message written in the center: “Serve the People.” In front were placed candles, rice and sake for folks to come pay their respects. – Photo: Andre Nguyen, www.takenbyandre.com</div><div>&nbsp;</div></div>Did GWH tell Richard’s cousin, family minister, filmmakers and sisters and bros in the Third World Liberation Front and Black Panther Party that he was interviewing them to lend authenticity to his planned exposé alleging that Richard was an informer? As courtesies a reporter might extend to survivors of internment camps, FBI persecution and police violence? Did GWH inform the caretakers of the Harvey Dong, Richard Aoki and Ethnic Studies UCB archives of his purpose in using their materials, motherlodes created to tell our stories in our own words, without white voiceovers?<br /><br />Richard was my Asian Studies 198 instructor on Third World Liberation Movements during Fall 1969. Before we met, he had urged Belvin (my “paramour” in FBI parlance) to take up leadership in the Asian American Political Alliance and the Third World Liberation Front’s Central Committee. Sure Richard was a vet and gun nut of NRA proportions, but his provocations to our movement were intellectual. His memorial yielded a thicket of troublemakers, a testament to the generations of critical thinkers he helped instigate. Lord knows he was no angel. And who can predict what information may emerge in the future. But to Belvin and me, Richard deserves a fair hearing because he served time when the U.S. government railroaded him and his family into a concentration camp for the “crime” of being Japanese and because he spent adult life motivating and educating youth.<br /><br /> <div class="img alignright wp-image-30693" style="width: 346px;"> <a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Lil+Bobby+Hutton%E2%80%99s+funeral+rally+Oakland+High+School+Asian+students+Bea+Dong+in+front+1968+by+aam1968.blogspot.com_.jpg"><img alt="" height="254" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Lil+Bobby+Hutton%E2%80%99s+funeral+rally+Oakland+High+School+Asian+students+Bea+Dong+in+front+1968+by+aam1968.blogspot.com_.jpg" width="346" /></a> <div>Oakland High School students with the Asian American Movement were as outraged as his comrades in the Black Panther Party when Lil Bobby Hutton, 16, was murdered by Oakland police April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Dr. King. Bea Dong is in front. – Photo: aam1968.blogspot.com</div><div>&nbsp;</div></div>Any allegations against him merit careful investigation and analysis. Not the savaging of his memory and tooling of his family, friends and community to sell product. Not the retraumatizing of those who have already suffered FBI harassment and whose families, friends, neighbors and employers were interrogated because of our activism and, in some cases, because they were immigrants. As is now being perpetrated against our Arab, South Asian and Muslim sisters and brothers.<br /><br />What gives Seth Rosenfeld the impression that he can play, plunder and dishonor us like this? Irrespective of what comes out about Richard in the future, I believe Rosenfeld owes Richard’s family, friends and community, especially the Black Panther Party and Third World Liberation Front strikers, a public apology for the sensationalist and racially exploitative way he conducted his investigation and book promotion in relation to Richard and our movements.<br /> <h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: maroon;">&nbsp;</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: maroon;">Any allegations against him merit careful investigation and analysis. Not the savaging of his memory and tooling of his family, friends and community to sell product.</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: maroon;">&nbsp;</span></h3>And while dealing with my rage and sense of betrayal, I also struggle to hold a mirror to myself and my fellow writers of color. Let this painful episode be a lesson for us as well. May we be scrupulous in our assessments and work with people. May we not pander to prejudice, no matter how popular. May we write hard truths without twisting conclusions to fill our pockets and egos.<br /><br /> <em>Belvin and Miriam Louie were members of the Asian American Political Alliance and such groups as the Venceremos Brigade, National Anti-Racist Organizing Committee, Manilatown Heritage Foundation, Third World Women’s Alliance, Asian Immigrant Women Advocates and Women of Color Resource Center. </em>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-2755678354536728722012-08-31T23:52:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:57:34.188-07:00 JERUSALEM - A court in northern Israel ruled Tuesday that Israel and its military were not negligent in the 2003 death of a U.S. activist who was crushed by an army bulldozer. The judge called the death a "regrettable accident," and said Rachel Corrie "did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done." "She consciously put herself in harm's way," Judge Oded Gershon said, adding that the driver of the bulldozer could not have seen Corrie, 23. She was wearing a bright-orange jacket and standing between the armored vehicle and a Palestinian home to prevent its being torn down in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Fellow activists who were with Corrie have no doubt that the bulldozer driver saw her and went so far as to roll over her twice. "I believe that this was a bad day not only for our family but a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel," the pro-Palestinian activist's mother, Cindy Corrie of Olympia, Wash., said. There exists "a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions in that military to provide them with impunity, at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do," she added. The State Prosecutor's office called Corrie's death, which happened at the height of the second intifada, a "tragic accident" but defended the verdict of the Haifa District Court. In a statement, it repeated the argument that the driver could not see Corrie, adding that it was "a military action in the course of war." "The security forces at the Philadelphi Corridor during 2003 were compelled to carry out 'leveling' work against explosive devices that posed a tangible danger to life and limb and were not in any form posing a threat to Palestinian homes," the statement read. "The work was done while exercising maximum caution and prudence and without the ability to foresee harming anyone." A military investigation after Corrie's death found no wrongdoing, so the Corries filed a civil suit in 2005 for the symbolic amount of $1 for the intentional and unlawful killing of Rachel. The United States has criticized Israel for failing to carry out a thorough, credible and transparent investigation, a criticism again leveled last week by the ambassador to Tel Aviv, Dan Shapiro Fellow activist Tom Dale wrote after the incident, "The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth. "All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel's presence. We were in clear view as Rachel had been, they continued. They pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time." The family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, is urging the family to take the case to Israel's Supreme Court. "This verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness," he wrote in a statement. "In denying justice in Rachel Corrie's killing, this verdict speaks to the systemic failure to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violations of basic human rights."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/n3FFq4ju1u0PbBfm1E8fjg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7aD0zODE7cT04NTt3PTUxMg--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/photo_1346150817912-5-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/n3FFq4ju1u0PbBfm1E8fjg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7aD0zODE7cT04NTt3PTUxMg--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/photo_1346150817912-5-0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><cite class="byline vcard" id="yui_3_5_1_20_1346482107047_439">By <span class="fn" id="yui_3_5_1_20_1346482107047_441">Alexander Marquardt</span> | <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/u-activists-death-regrettable-accident-israeli-court-rules-135323560--abc-news-topstories.html"><span class="provider org" id="yui_3_5_1_20_1346482107047_454">ABC News</span></a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;<abbr id="yui_3_5_1_20_1346482107047_456" title="2012-08-28T13:53:23Z">Tue, Aug 28, 2012</abbr></cite><br /><br />JERUSALEM - A court in northern Israel ruled Tuesday that Israel and its military were not negligent in the 2003 death of a U.S. activist who was crushed by an army bulldozer.The judge called the death a "regrettable accident," and said Rachel Corrie "did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."<br /><br />"She consciously put herself in harm's way," Judge Oded Gershon said, adding that the driver of the bulldozer could not have seen Corrie, 23.<br /><br />She was wearing a bright-orange jacket and standing between the armored vehicle and a Palestinian home to prevent its being torn down in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Fellow activists who were with Corrie have no doubt that the bulldozer driver saw her and went so far as to roll over her twice.<br />"I believe that this was a bad day not only for our family but a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel," the pro-Palestinian activist's mother, Cindy Corrie of Olympia, Wash., said.<br /><br />There exists "a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions in that military to provide them with impunity, at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do," she added.<br /><br />The State Prosecutor's office called Corrie's death, which happened at the height of the second intifada, a "tragic accident" but defended the verdict of the Haifa District Court. In a statement, it repeated the argument that the driver could not see Corrie, adding that it was "a military action in the course of war."<br /><br />"The security forces at the Philadelphi Corridor during 2003 were compelled to carry out 'leveling' work against explosive devices that posed a tangible danger to life and limb and were not in any form posing a threat to Palestinian homes," the statement read. "The work was done while exercising maximum caution and prudence and without the ability to foresee harming anyone."<br /><br />A military investigation after Corrie's death found no wrongdoing, so the Corries filed a civil suit in 2005 for the symbolic amount of $1 for the intentional and unlawful killing of Rachel. The United States has criticized Israel for failing to carry out a thorough, credible and transparent investigation, a criticism again leveled last week by the ambassador to Tel Aviv, Dan Shapiro<br /><div id="yui_3_5_1_20_1346482107047_422"><br />Fellow activist Tom Dale wrote after the incident, "The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth.</div><div id="yui_3_5_1_20_1346482107047_420"><br />"All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel's presence. We were in clear view as Rachel had been, they continued. They pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time."</div><div id="yui_3_5_1_20_1346482107047_418"><br />The family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, is urging the family to take the case to Israel's Supreme Court.</div><div id="yui_3_5_1_20_1346482107047_417"><br />"This verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness," he wrote in a statement. "In denying justice in Rachel Corrie's killing, this verdict speaks to the systemic failure to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violations of basic human rights."</div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-74254903395693890872012-08-31T23:46:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:46:48.179-07:00National Call In Day in Support of NW Grand Jury Resisters - Wed 8/29*Call In Day- Wednesday, August 29*^*th* * : *We are asking for people to call the US Attorney again this Wednesday, August 29^th . Call Jenny Durkan at _*(800) 797-6722* <tel:>_ and leave a&nbsp; message with the person who answers the phone. Last call in day, they tried to send people to a voicemail box. If they attempt to do that, tell whoever you are talking to that you would like to leave a message with them and not a voicemail.<br /><br />_An example of what you might say:_<br /><br />“Hi. I am Jolene Seaside. I am calling about the grand jury being <br />impaneled in Seattle tomorrow, August 30th. This case clearly shows that <br />the FBI and government are persecuting political dissent in our country. <br />It is despicable that US attorney and the government are harassing and <br />intimating this group of people for their political beliefs. I demand <br />that the grand jury and investigation be ended immediately, that the <br />governments repression of social movements stop, and that any items <br />seized in the raids be returned. Thank you for taking my comments.”<br /><br />When you call the U.S Attorney's office, please let them know that you <br />are speaking for yourself and not the individuals resisting the grand <br />jury subpoenas. Be aware of how the things you say will impact the <br />people you are trying to help. If you make a call, please email us <br />(_nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com <br /><mailto:nopoliticalrepression gmail.com="gmail.com">_) and let us know how what kind <br />of response you got from the Attorney's office.<br /><br />On August 2^nd , we overwhelmed the US attorney's office in Washington <br />with phone calls demanding an end to the grand jury.* *We want to keep <br />up the pressure and make sure the US attorney knows we are still <br />standing firmly in solidarity with those resisting the grand jury.<br /><br />*Thursday, August 30*^*th* *:* Come to Seattle to stand against the <br />Grand Jury witch hunt! There will be a demonstration in solidarity with <br />those affected by the raids and subpoenas starting at 12:oo pm The <br />demonstration will be at the federal court house, 700 Stewart St., in <br />Seattle.<br /><br />*Can't make it to Seattle?* Plan another event or demonstration in <br />solidarity! Please email us at _nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com <br /><mailto:nopoliticalrepression gmail.com="gmail.com">_ to tell us about your event<br /><br />or attend one of these solidarity events:<br /><br />*Portland, Oregon:* Come show resistance to state repression and <br />solidarity with those whose backs are against the way. 12:30 to 3:30 pm <br />at the Federal Court House (1000 SW 3^rd Ave). <br />https://www.facebook.com/events/401156179937499/<br /><br />*Minneapolis, MN: *A rally in solidarity with Northwest/Midwest grand <br />jury resistors and<br />local Occupy Homes organizers. 12-1pm at City Hall (350 S 5th St). <br />http://twincitiesantirepression.tumblr.com/post/30111358127/a30-solidarity-against-state-repression<br /><br />*Please donate! *There is a “Donate” tab on our website <br />_http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/_. We are trying to raise <br />legal fees for all of those affected. We also are trying to provide <br />material support for those that are resisting the grand jury.<br /><br />Please keep checking our website for updates: <br />_http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/_. If you have questions, <br />email us at _nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com <br /><mailto:nopoliticalrepression gmail.com="gmail.com">_.</mailto:nopoliticalrepression></mailto:nopoliticalrepression></mailto:nopoliticalrepression></tel:>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-11950876599287443422012-08-31T23:44:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:44:09.673-07:00!Antifascista ruso detenido en Madrid! - Russian writer and antifascist Pjotr Silajev is still arrested in Madrid -Spanish below<br /><br />Russian writer and antifascist Pjotr Silajev is still arrested in Madrid<br /><br />Silajev had been granted a political asylum in Finland early this year.<br />The Finnish embassy in Madrid has said that Silajev can be kept arrested<br />for 40 days! The Spanish police arrested Silajev in Granada because of<br />request from Interpol on the 21st of august. Contrary to the<br />expectations, he was not released in a trial in Madrid on the 22nd of<br />august, even though the Finnish embassy had provided all the papers<br />concerning his asylum and right to stay in the country. The court<br />wouldnt comment the case. The Spanish police said that he only had a<br />Russian passport when he was arrested. It is not clear how the Finnish<br />state will react to the arrest.<br /><br />The Moscow Times interviewed Tanya Lokshina from The Human Rights<br />Watch, who said that the Spanish state does not have to take into<br />concideration the asylum from Finland and are free to send him back to<br />Russia. This does not seem possible. The Finnish YLE news has<br />interviewed the head of the immigration office Esko Repo who said that<br />all the European Union countries are committed to not sending people to<br />countries where they might face prosecution.<br /><br />The lawyer of Silajev said the situation looks bad.<br /><br />The Moscow Times said that the hardening line of the Russian government<br />towards protests can lead to even more cases where people need to flee<br />the country. The case of Silajev can be connected to other cases where<br />people who had fled the country have been tried to be sent back.<br /><br />Silajev was granted asylum from Finland in april of this year. The<br />reason was the continuing political prosecution in Russia. The Russian<br />Federation wants him convicted for demonstrations against a highway in<br />the Khimki region outside Moscow. Among other protests, the house of the<br />city council was attacked and some people throw stones and fireworks in<br />the building in 2010.<br /><br />The hunt of Silajev seems to be the last resort for the prosecutor to<br />convict someone from the Khimki protests. Last year Aleksey Gaskarov,<br />who was arrested for months, was releassed of all charges and Maxim<br />Solopov received a two year sentence for hooliganism. The third suspect<br />Denis Solopov has received an asylum from the Netherlands.<br /><br />The Moscow Times have said that the mayor of Khimki Vladimir<br />Strelchenko resigned last week because of pressure from the new governor<br />of Moscow. Strelchenko is suspected of organising attacks against the<br />protesters who were resisting the building of the highway.<br /><br />We are asking for solidarity from our comrades in Madrid and other<br />parts of the Spanish state! Support our anarchist and antifascist comrade!<br /><br />Spread the word!<br /><br />Taken from Finnish anarchist web page Takku.net<br /><br />http://takku.net/article.php/20120824021656685<br /><br />(via<br />https://avtonom.org/en/news/russian-writer-and-antifasAcist-pjotr-silajev-still-arrested-madrid)<br /><br />!Antifascista ruso detenido en Madrid!<br /><br /><br />El escritor antifascista ruso, Pjotr Silajev continua detenido en<br />Madrid. Silajev había conseguido asilo político en Finlandia a principios<br />de año. La embajada Finlandesa en Madrid ha declarado que Silajev puede<br />seguir retenido hasta 40 días. La policía española detuvo a Silajev en<br />Granada bajo una orden de la<br />Interpol, interpuesta el 21 de agosto. Tras su traslado a Madrid,<br />contrariamente a lo esperado, no fue puesto en libertad condicional al día<br />siguiente, a pesar de que la embajada finlandesa le había proporcionado<br />todos los papeles necesarios para garantizar su asilo y el derecho a estar<br />en el país. El juez no aceptó recursos al respecto. La policía por su parte<br />dice que Silajev tan solo tenía un pasaporte ruso cuando fue detenido.<br />Todavía<br />está por ver cuál será la reacción del Estado finlandés.<br /><br />The Moscow Times entrevistó a Tanya Lokshina de The Human Rights Watch,<br />quien declaró que el Estado español no tiene la obligación de considerar el<br />asilo otorgado por Finlandia, pudiendo enviar al activista antifascista<br />directamente de vuelta a Rusia. Ésto no parece ser cierto. El canal<br />finlandés de noticias YLE ha entrevistado a Esko Repo, director de la<br />oficina de inmigración, que ha explicado como todos los países de la Unión<br />Europea tienen el compromiso de no enviar personas de vuelta a países donde<br />puedan ser perseguidas por motivos políticos.<br /><br />El abogado de Silajev dice que la situación pinta mal.<br /><br />Según The Moscow Times, la creciente represión por parte del gobierno ruso<br />contra protestas y disidentes puede llevar a muchos más ciudadanos viéndose<br />obligados a huir del país. El caso de Silajev no está aislado; puede<br />conectarse con muchas otras historias de personas que, habiendo huído del<br />país, fueron perseguidas con la intención de enviarlas de vuelta a Rusia.<br /><br />Silajev obtuvo asilo en Finlandia en abril del presente año. El motivo fue<br />la continua persecución política que estaba sufriendo en Rusia. La<br />Federación Rusa quiere encarcelarlo por las manifestaciones en contra de la<br />construcción de una autopista en la región de Khimki, a las afueras de<br />Moscú. Entre otras acciones, el ayuntamiento de la ciudad de Khimki fue<br />atacado con piedras y petardos en 2010.<br /><br />La caza de Silajev parece ser el último recurso del fiscal para intentar<br />seguir criminalizando las protestas de Khimki. El año pasado el activista<br />Aleksey Gaskarov, tras pasar varios meses detenido, fue puesto en libertad<br />sin cargos mientras que Maxim Solopov, otro presunto implicado en las<br />acciones, fue condenado a dos años de cárcel bajo el cargo de<br />“hooliganismo”. El tercer sospechoso, Denis Solopov, ha recibido asilo<br />político en Holanda.<br /><br />The Moscow Times ha publicado recientemente la dimisión del alcalde de<br />Khimki, Vladimir Strelchenko, que abandonó su cargo debido a presiones del<br />nuevo gobernador de Moscú. Stretchenko es sospechoso de haber organizado<br />ataques, realizados por mercenarios y grupos neonazis, contra la acampada<br />de manifestantes que resistía y bloqueaba la construcción de la autopista.<br /><br />¡Pedimos solidaridad a nuestros compañeros de Madrid y otras partes del<br />Estado español! ¡Apoyo para nuestro compañero antifascista y anarquista!<br /><br />¡Pásalo!<br /><br />Extraído y traducido de la página web anarquista finlandesa Takku.net”<br /><br /><br />http://takku.net/article.php/20120824021656685Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-26064442378988963292012-08-31T23:41:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:41:43.225-07:00The Secret Scheme To Sabotage Abu-Jamal's Appeal RightsAug. 24, 2012 <a href="http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/1294///">This Can't Be Happening</a><br /><div class="meta"> </div><div class="content"> <span class="print-link"></span><div class="field field-type-text field-field-byline"> <div class="field-item odd">by: Linn Washington Jr. </div><div class="field-items"> </div></div>&nbsp; <br /> Mumia Abu-Jamal, the internationally recognized American political prisoner, thwarted a Philadelphia judge’s secretive court order that could have eliminated his future appeal rights when he filed a last- minute motion on August 23rd challenging that order sentencing him to life-without-parole.<br /><br /> Most supporters and detractors of Abu-Jamal had been expecting the formal conversion of his controversial death sentence to life-without-parole in the wake of a federal appeals court’s second and final rejection of requests from Philadelphia prosecutors to keep Abu-Jamal on death row back in April 2011.<br /><br /> What was unexpected by Abu-Jamal supporters were the procedures surrounding the secretive court order, which appears to have violated a number of Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. <br /> Abu-Jamal’s Pro Se Motion for Post Sentence Relief and Reconsideration of Sentence referenced Rule 720 of Pennsylvania’s Criminal Procedure which states in part that defendants shall “have the right” to make post-sentence motion but that motion must be filed “no later than 10 days after imposition of sentence.”<br /><br /> That secretly issued resentencing order occurred on August 13, 2012, exactly ten days before Abu-Jamal filed his motion.<br /><br /> If that ten-day filing period had expired, undiscovered due to secrecy-shrouded issuance of the resentencing order about which no public notice or notice was provided to Abu-Jamal and his legal team, his legal ability to challenge his continued confinement would have been damaged, including his probable loss of future appeal rights.<br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Mumia, off death row but fighting to escape life in prison, with attorney Rachel Wolkenstein and his wife Wadiya Jamal" class="image image-preview " height="379" src="http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/sites/default/files/images/Mumia,wolkenstein,wadiya.jpg" title="Mumia, off death row but fighting to escape life in prison, with attorney Rachel Wolkenstein and his wife Wadiya Jamal" width="560" /><strong>&nbsp;</strong></div><strong>Mumia, off death row but fighting to escape life in prison, with attorney Rachel Wolkenstein and his wife Wadiya Jamal</strong><br /> &nbsp; <br /> Court rules and common decency require notice of court actions -- both pending and actually taken.<br /> “This is the same backdoor stuff that’s always done to him,” a Mumia attorney, Rachel Wolkenstein, said during an interview outside of Philadelphia’s Criminal Justice Center after delivering Abu-Jamal’s motion. <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Philadelphia Preident Judge Judy &amp;quot;Take the Law Into Your Hands&amp;quot; Dembe with her husband" class="image image-preview " height="279" src="http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/sites/default/files/images/judgedembe.jpg" title="Philadelphia Preident Judge Pamela &amp;quot;Take the Law Into Your Hands&amp;quot; Dembe with her husband" width="350" /><strong>&nbsp;</strong></div><strong>Philadelphia Preident Judge Judy "Take the Law Into Your Hands" Dembe with her husband</strong><br /><br /> Wolkenstein, who has worked on Abu-Jamal's case for over two decades, uncovered that secretly issued judicial order.<br /><br /> She became aware of it during a routine inspection of Philadelphia court records checking to see when a resentencing would occur.<br /><br /> Wolkenstein immediately informed Abu-Jamal and his legal team, all of whom were unaware of the order.<br /><br /> Wolkenstein then made two trips to the Pennsylvania prison holding Abu-Jamal, the last trip to bring Abu-Jamal's Motion to the Philadelphia court house a few hours before that ten-day filing deadline expired.<br /><br /> Rule 114(b)(1) of Pennsylvania’s Rules of Criminal Procedure states that a “copy of any order or court notice promptly shall be served on each party’s attorney…” –- procedures apparently not followed in this resentencing of Abu-Jamal.<br /><br /> Another provision of those Procedures, Rule 704, states the sentencing judge must advise a defendant “of the time within which defendant must exercise” their right to appeal and other post-sentencing matters.<br /><br /> “A number of death sentences have been reversed in Pennsylvania and the person's given life sentences. As far as I know each of those persons received more formal proceeding than what happened here,” Wolkenstein said.<br /><br /> Rule 114(A)(2) of Pennsylvania’s Criminal Procedure states that “all orders and court notices promptly shall be placed in the criminal case file.”<br /><br /> Yet Wolkenstein said when she asked Philadelphia court clerks for the resentencing file days after the order’s issuance, court clerks told her there was no file containing a record of that resentencing.<br /> Philadelphia Court Clerk officials, when contacted for comment, requested that questions be made in a written format for review by their lawyers. Those officials did not reply to the submitted questions by the time of this article’s posting.<br /><br /> Another factor further obscuring that resentencing order, Wolkenstein said, is that the court docket captioned under the birth name Abu-Jamal -- Wesley Cook -- hasn’t been used since the late 1960s. <br /> The majority of court files and court rulings (state and federal) list the name Abu-Jamal not Cook, thus persons examining court files generally look for Abu-Jamal and not the name Cook.<br /> The perverse procedures swirling around that resentencing order were not unusual, given the legal improprieties and other irregularities that have stained Abu-Jamal’s case since his December 1981 arrest for killing a Philadelphia policeman.<br /><br /> Philadelphia’s President Judge, Pamela P. Dembe, resentenced Abu-Jamal to life-without-parole on August 13th, according to sketchy Philadelphia court docket documents.<br /><br /> Those documents state that Dembe was acting in accordance with a December 2001 order from a federal district court judge who voided Abu-Jamal’s death sentence after ruling that the judge at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 murder trial had incorrectly instructed the jury on how to conduct its death penalty deliberation.<br /><br /> “Nothing in that federal ruling says it’s OK for no notice and no record in the resentencing,” Wolkenstein said, questioning the legality of the resentencing.<br /><br /> Abu-Jamal, despite having his death sentence vacated in 2001, remained in death-row isolation until December 2011 because the federal judge that eliminated his death sentence granted a punitive request from Philadelphia prosecutors to keep Abu-Jamal on death row while they appealed that judge’s ruling -- a process that took ten years.<br /><br /> Abu-Jamal's Motion cites the fact that he wrongfully spent nearly thirty-years in death row isolation on a sentence federal courts ruled was illegal. His supporters, like Wolkenstein, cite that illegal death row incarceration as fact enough to release this man whose published six critically acclaimed books and over a thousand commentaries while on death row.<br /><br /> Philadelphia prosecutors pursued two unsuccessful appeals in federal appeals court seeking unsuccessfully to reinstate the death sentence that was vacated in 2001. There were also two efforts going up to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to uphold an execution.<br /><br /> In early December 2011 Philadelphia prosecutors announced that they were no longer appealing those federal appellate court rulings, thus ending their effort to execute Abu-Jamal. <br /> But Pennsylvania prison authorities, instead of removing Abu-Jamal totally from solitary confinement in compliance with those long-delayed federal court rulings at that point, initially simply shifted him from death row to the more draconian isolation of administrative custody.<br /> Prison officials advanced ever-changing rationales for keeping Abu-Jamal in administrative custody, including the Kafkaesque claim that they needed legal clarification that courts had formally replaced Abu-Jamal’s death sentence with life in prison.<br /><br /> Prison officials, in January 2012, facing international protests, finally relented and released Abu-Jamal from isolation into general population.<br /><br /> Judge Dembe’s secretive resentencing is in concert with earlier improprieties that have stalked all facets of Abu-Jamal’s arrest, trial, appeals and imprisonment.<br /><br /> Philadelphia police, for example, right from the moment of Abu-Jamal's arrest at the scene of the shootings, failed to perform the standard test to prove Abu-Jamal had even fired the pistol that police said he used to kill the officer.<br /><br /> One of the gravest yet least examined improprieties occurred on the eve of a pivotal 1995 appeal hearing when then then Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge issued a death warrant on Abu-Jamal.<br /> That warrant was issued because lawyers in Ridge’s office had secretly and unlawfully intercepted correspondence between Abu-Jamal and his lawyers, and discovered the date they planned for the filing of their client’s appeal.<br /><br /> That Ridge-issued death warrant severely disrupted Abu-Jamal’s appeal proceeding, forcing Abu-Jamal’s defense team to fight the warrant while simultaneously preparing for the appeal hearing. <br /> The execution date was also used by the appeal hearing judge -- Albert Sabo, who had also been the judge at Abu-Jamal's original murder trial -- as a justification for unduly speeding that hearing. That gratuitous rush Sabo ordered further constrained defense efforts by limiting their ability to locate and bring in witnesses.<br /><br /> Additionally, issuance of that death warrant was improper because Abu-Jamal had a constitutional right to that 1995 appeal of his death sentence before an execution could take place.<br /> Federal and state courts have persistently ignored that glaringly improper intervention by Ridge, which effectively robbed Abu-Jamal’s of a key step in his appeal rights -- the right to have a fact-finding review of his flawed 1982 trial and to introduce new evidence of innocence.<br /> Significantly, Judge Dembe is the same jurist who years ago rejected compelling evidence that the judge in Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial had made a racist, prosecution-favoring admission on the eve of the proceeding.<br /><br /> A court stenographer had come foreward and announced that she had, back in 1982 during the jury selection phase of the trial, overheard that trial judge, the infamous Albert Sabo, declare to his court aide that he was going to help prosecutors “fry the nigger,” a clear reference to Abu-Jamal. <br /> Racist and/or pro-prosecution bias by a judge is forbidden by Supreme Court rulings and by Pennsylvania’s Code of Judicial Conduct, not to mention basic principles of Common Law.<br /> Yet, Dembe refused to take testimony from the stenographer to determine the veracity of allegations from that woman, who hails from a family of police officers.<br /><br /> Dembe, in a ruling exhibiting ridiculous reasoning, claimed Sabo’s racist, pro-prosecution rant was immaterial to Abu-Jamal’s conviction because, she opined, a jury not Sabo convicted Abu-Jamal.<br /> Dembe’s fundamentally flawed assertion pretended that Sabo, as trial judge, did not influence the course of the trial in a series of sabotaging actions like stripping Abu-Jamal of his right to represent himself at trial just days before testimony began (and sending his defense into a tail-spin), withholding favorable Abu-Jamal evidence from jurors, and even selecting a juror for duty who had honestly admitted to being solidly biased against Abu-Jamal.<br /><br /> The injustice in Abu-Jamal’s long-running case has elicited condemnation from numerous entities as diverse as Amnesty International, the NAACP and the City Council of Munich, Germany.<br /> The injustice evident in Abu-Jamal’s case is consistent with the injustice exhibited daily by some Philadelphia police, prosecutors and judges.<br /><br /> The same day Abu-Jamal filed his resentence-challenging motion, a Philadelphia judge convicted Philadelphia broadcaster Jeff Hart of disorderly conduct for a minor incident arising from Hart's observing police brutality during the arrest of a suspect near Hart’s house.<br /><br /> Hart said the false disorderly conduct charge followed his politely asking a Philadelphia policeman to not use profanity repeatedly when ordering Hart and another man from the arrest scene.<br /> Abu-Jamal, an award-winning broadcast journalist at the time of his 1981 arrest, frequently reported on this kind of rampant police abuse in Philadelphia.<br /> </div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-46325414521320296812012-08-31T23:35:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:36:51.922-07:00A Move to Free the Cuban Five<h1 class="article-title"></h1><div class="mainauthorstyle">Aug. 24, 2012 <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/24/a-move-to-free-the-cuban-five/">Counterpunch</a></div><div class="mainauthorstyle">by DANNY GLOVER and SAUL LANDAU<br /><br />People stop in Victorville California 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles because they have to see someone at one of its several prisons (federal, state, county and city) or have prison-related business, or because they’re hot and tired coming back from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and the thought of a swimming pool and an air conditioned room seem irresistible.</div><div class="main-text"><br />We book rooms so we can get to the prison early and spend more time with Gerardo Hernandez. We know the way from Highway 15 west into rolling desert hills from whence one sees a massive gray concrete structure – the federal penitentiary complex.<br /><br />We fill out the forms, pass through the X-ray machine, get patted down by a guard, get our wrists stamped with indelible ink that shows up under a scanner in the next room, and by 8:45 we are seated in the Visiting room, with black and Latino wives and kids who are seeing husbands and daddies.<br />Gerardo emerges; we hug and start talking. He told us that Martin Garbus, his lawyer, had filed a new writ (available at <a href="http://www.thecuban5.org/">www.thecuban5.org</a>) declaring Gerardo’s trial violated basic law and the<br /><br />Constitution, and should be voided – freeing him and his comrades from their long sentences.<br />Documents show, according to the brief, that the U.S. government paid a host of Miami-based journalists to file negative stories on Gerardo and his fellow defendants (The Cuban 5). These U.S. government paid-for stories appeared in newspapers, magazines, radio and TV and influenced public opinion in the community, including jury members and their families, the writ argues, and therefore calls into deep question whether a fair trial in Miami was possible for the five accused men.<br /><br />The brief states that the U.S. “government’s successful secret subversion of the Miami print, radio, and television media to pursue a conviction was unprecedented,” and “violated the integrity of the trial and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.”<br /><br />Garbus further argues that “The Government, through millions of dollars of illegal payments and at least a thousand articles published over a six-year period, interfered with the trial and persuaded the jury to convict. The Government’s Response to this motion is factually barren and legally incorrect. The conviction must now be vacated.”<br /><br />In the lengthy brief, Garbus shows how journalists wrote and spoke for news outlets for the sole purpose of painting a distorted picture of what the defendants were doing, which was trying to prevent Miami-based terrorism in Cuba, and instead, as Garbus’ brief shows, to portray them as military spies trying to prepare south Florida for a military invasion from Cuba.<br /><br />The <i>Miami Herald</i> fired the journalists on the grounds they had broken a basic code – taking money from the government to write stories. The brief states that “Thomas Fiedler, the Executive Editor and Vice President of <i>The Miami Herald</i>, when talking about the monies paid to his staff members and members of other media entities by the Government, said it was wrongful because it was “to carry out the mission of the U.S. Government, a propaganda mission. It was wrong even if it had not been secret.” It was secret because the government officials knew it wrong and illegal.<br /><br />Gerardo and four companions have served almost 14 years in federal lock up for trying to stop right wing Miami thugs from bombing Havana. In 1997, a series of bombs hit hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs. One tourist died and many Cuban workers in these establishments were wounded. The bombings were orchestrated by Luis Posada Carriles, resident of Miami today, and financed by right wing exile money.<br /><br />As we sat in the visiting room surrounded by mostly people of color, with four guards watching us and the other visitors, we nibbled on salted snacks from the vending machine (“prison gourmet”).<br />Gerardo told us about his time in “the hole,” for no bad behavior on his part, but for his “protection”! He spoke of deprivation of the routine monotony. “Look around,” he said, “you don’t see a lot of middle class people here. There were none. Most of the prisoners were black or Latino, plus one who Gerardo thought was a descendent of poor Okies. All share a lack of money to hire good lawyers.<br /><br />“I was transferred here from Lompoc in 2004 because Lompoc was not going to be a maximum security prison any more,” Gerardo told us. As if this cultured, disciplined man needed maximum security. We wondered how we would endure the punishment of imprisonment in a supposedly correctional and rehabilitative institution, where no correction or rehabilitation takes place.<br /><br />We drove from the prison to the Ontario airport and asked ourselves: What, we asked ourselves, was a well-educated Cuban man doing in such a place? The U.S. government knew the Cuban agents had infiltrated Cuban exile groups that intended to cause damage to Cuba’s tourist economy. The five were fighting terrorism and sharing information with the FBI. They should never have been charged and now, almost 14 years of prison later, they should at last be freed.<br /><br />President Obama could and should pardon them and send them home. Cuba has indicated it would respond by freeing Alan Gross, who worked for a company contracted to USAID with a design to destabilize the Cuban government and was convicted in Cuba. It’s time for President Obama to put this issue on his agenda.<br /><br /><b><i>Danny Glover </i></b><i>is an activist and actor.</i><br /><i>&nbsp;</i><i> </i><br /><b><i>Saul Landau’s</i></b><i> WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLASE STAND UP plays in Portland Sept. 12, Clinton Theater and Toronto Sept. 21.</i></div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-45074564928787881002012-08-31T23:32:00.003-07:002012-08-31T23:32:53.898-07:00Oakland, Sept 9 4pm - Richard Aoki - Cointelpro & Reclaiming the Legacy*Richard Aoki - Black Panther &amp; Asian American Activist*<br /><br />*Cointelpro Attacks &amp; Reclaiming the Legacy*<br /><br />*Sunday, September 9th 4-6 pm*<br /><br />EastSide Cultural Center<br />2277 International Blvd<br />Oakland<br /><br />*with Diane Fujino,<br />Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis<br />&amp; Bobby Seale *<br /><br />Cosponsored By EastSide Arts Alliance and the Freedom Archives<br />for more information call: 510-533-6629 or 415 863-9977Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-16357034143409402302012-08-31T23:26:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:26:28.882-07:00Letters for the Cuban 5The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5<br />www.freethecuban5.com<br />freethecuban5@gmail.com<br />718-601-4751<br />Cuban 5 Pressure Campaign<br /><br />Support the Cuban 5!!<br /><br />Due to the U.S. government’s denial to approve visas, Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo and<br />Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert have not seen their wives since their incarceration!! Others<br />in the Cuban 5 have not seen their parents, wives and children with regularity. The<br />U.S. government has taken prolonged periods of time to issue them visas. <br /><br />The U.S. government’s denial of visitation rights is a cruel and horrible form of<br />psychological torture. Their rationale for denial is ridiculous and baseless; none<br />of these family members are a threat to national security. <br /><br />We are asking people to fax or mail out this letter to Ms. Navanetham Pillay, The<br />NEW High Commissioner of Human Rights of the Office for Human Rights-United Nations<br />Office at Geneva. We are asking her to intercede on behalf of the Cuban 5’s<br />mothers/wives to pressure the U.S. government to grant them VISAs to visit their<br />husbands/sons!! <br /><br />Sign it and mail/fax to:<br /><br /><br />Ms. Navanetham Pillay, High Commissioner of Human Rights <br />Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-United Nations Office at Geneva <br /><br />8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211 <br /><br />Geneva 10, Switzerland <br /><br />Fax: + 41 22 917 9011 <br /><br /><br />Letter to High Commissioner <br /><br /><br />FREE THE CUBAN 5 MONTH SEPT. 12TH-OCT. 12TH!<br /><br /><br />Sat. Sept. 22nd, 2012 at 2pm<br /><br />The Brecht Forum 451 West Street (Between. Bank and Bethune Sts.)<br />A, C, E or L to 14th Street &amp; 8th Ave, walk down 8th Ave. to Bethune, turn right,<br />walk west to the River and turn left.<br />Suggested donation: $5-10 (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)<br /><br /><br />Free the Cuban 5 Film Series!<br /><br /><br />As part of our ongoing efforts to educate about Cuba, the Cuban 5, and the Cuban<br />political system, The Popular <br />Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 is hosting this film screening as part of<br />“Free the Cuban 5 Month!” <br /><br />Join us for South of the Border, a film by Oliver Stone! <br /><br /><br />Film Synopsis: <br /><br />There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know<br />it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social<br />and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South<br />America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual <br /><br />conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula<br />da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and<br />ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and<br />Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the<br />exciting transformations in the region.<br /><br />The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5:<br />For more information on the Cuban 5 please contact: freethecuban5@gmail.com or<br />718-601-4751<br /><br />Visit our website: www.FreetheCuban5.com<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Support the Cuban 5!!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Due to the U.S. government’s denial to approve visas, Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo and<br />Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert have not seen their wives since their incarceration!! Others<br />in the Cuban 5 have not seen their parents, wives and children with regularity. The<br />U.S. government has taken prolonged periods of time to issue them visas. <br /><br />The U.S. government’s denial of visitation rights is a cruel and horrible form of<br />psychological torture. Their rationale for denial is ridiculous and baseless; none<br />of these family members are a threat to national security. <br /><br /><br />We are asking people to fax or mail out this letter to Ms. Navanetham Pillay, The<br />NEW High Commissioner of Human Rights of the Office for Human Rights-United Nations<br />Office at Geneva. We are asking her to intercede on behalf of the Cuban 5’s<br />mothers/wives to pressure the U.S. government to grant them VISAs to visit their<br />husbands/sons!! <br /><br />Sign it and mail/fax to:<br /><br /><br />Ms. Navanetham Pillay, High Commissioner of Human Rights <br />Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-United Nations Office at Geneva <br /><br />8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211 <br /><br />Geneva 10, Switzerland <br /><br />Fax: + 41 22 917 9011 <br /><br /><br />Letter to High Commissioner <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />FREE THE CUBAN 5 MONTH SEPT. 12TH-OCT. 12TH!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sat. Sept. 22nd, 2012 at 2pm<br /><br />The Brecht Forum 451 West Street (Between. Bank and Bethune Sts.)<br />A, C, E or L to 14th Street &amp; 8th Ave, walk down 8th Ave. to Bethune, turn right,<br />walk west to the River and turn left.<br />Suggested donation: $5-10 (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)<br /><br /><br />Free the Cuban 5 Film Series!<br /><br /><br />As part of our ongoing efforts to educate about Cuba, the Cuban 5, and the Cuban<br />political system, The Popular <br />Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 is hosting this film screening as part of<br />“Free the Cuban 5 Month!” <br /><br />Join us for South of the Border, a film by Oliver Stone! <br /><br /><br />Film Synopsis: <br /><br />There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know<br />it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social<br />and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South<br />America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual <br /><br />conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula<br />da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and<br />ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and<br />Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the<br />exciting transformations in the region.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5:<br />For more information on the Cuban 5 please contact: <a href="https://fulvetta.riseup.net/sm/src/compose.php?send_to=freethecuban5%40gmail.com">freethecuban5@gmail.com</a> or<br />718-601-4751<br /><br />Visit our website: www.FreetheCuban5.com<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-33434994916096734982012-08-31T23:23:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:24:24.323-07:00The Habeas Corpus of Gerardo Hernandez <small>August 23, 2012 | <a href="http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=77088">Havanna Times</a><span class="st_fblike_hcount"><span style="color: black; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin: 3px 3px 0; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: bottom;"></span></span></small><br /><div class="fb-like fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" data-action="" data-href="http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=77088" data-layout="button_count" data-send="false" data-show-faces="false" style="text-align: center;"><small><span class="st_fblike_hcount"><span style="color: black; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin: 3px 3px 0; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: bottom;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-77090" height="231" src="http://www.havanatimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/los-5-11.jpg" title="The photos of the five Cuban agents are part of the island’s landscape. Photo: Raquel Perez" width="350" /></span></span></small></div><br /><div class="wp-caption-text">The photos of the five Cuban agents are part of the island’s landscape. Photo: Raquel Perez</div><div class="wp-caption-text"><br /></div>HAVANA TIMES — UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, officially expressed her concern over the lack of transparency and the legal procedures employed in the trials of five Cuban agents arrested in the US over a decade ago.<br /><br />Apparently the prosecution and the judge played with cards up their sleeves by preventing the defense from having “access to all available evidence and documentary archives.” This was a violation of procedures so elementary that it even appears in TV series.<br /><br />But the procedural mistakes don’t stop there. According to the UN rapporteur, the habeas corpus writ presented by the defense is being reviewed “by the same judge who was previously in charge of the case,” thereby making her the judge and the jury.<br /><br />To top it all off, the hand of the US government can be seen in its pressuring of the courts for tougher sentences. Before and during the trial, several journalists in Miami received money to write articles against the five Cuban agents.<br /><br />It really doesn’t seem legal for the executive branch to exert influence over the judiciary, nor is it very ethical for a journalist to agree to receive money from the government in exchange for writing articles to influence the outcome of an ongoing trial.<br /><br />US attorney Martin Garbus says that between 1998-2001 an arsenal of propaganda was received by the Miami community through print, radio and television — paid for by the government — to interfere with the trail and to persuade the jury.<br /><br />According to Garbus, fifteen journalists received money to write against the five agents. Apparently some received their funds secretly, with not even their media outlets knowing that they were working for another more generous employer. For this, one of the reporters was paid $175,000 USD.<br /><br />The Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) of the US government was forced to admit to the accusation when reporter Oscar Corral revealed that 50 of his colleagues in Florida were paid by government-funded Radio Marti for articles supporting the position of the US Department of State against Cuba.<br /><br />The scandal was such that Jesus Diaz, the editor of the largest newspaper in Miami, fired several journalists claiming that the press can’t “ensure objectivity and integrity if any of our reporters receive monetary compensation from any entity, especially a government agency.”<br /><div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_77091" style="width: 260px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.havanatimes.org/?attachment_id=77091" rel="attachment wp-att-77091"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-77091" height="208" src="http://www.havanatimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/los-5-2-gerardo.jpg" title="Gerardo Hernandez" width="250" /></a></div><div class="wp-caption-text">Gerardo Hernandez</div></div>The head of the Cuban agents, Gerardo Hernandez, was sentenced to two life sentences. Photo: Taken from Cubadebate<br /><br />Despite the harsh words of the editor, this lack of ethics and professionalism seem not to have been considered too serious because a few months later several of those journalists returned to their old jobs, writing as if nothing had ever happened.<br /><br />Certainly, there have been so many legal and ethical anomalies that make it seem logical for UN Rapporteur Gabriela Knaul to look askance at the independence of the judges in this case. Just the same, one would have expected such occurrences given the place where the trial was held.<br /><br />Miami is a city where Cuban exiles have enormous political, economic and media power. It was highly unlikely to obtain a fair verdict in relation to these five agents who confessed to monitoring and reporting to Cuba on the activities of [terrorist figures] within that same community.<br /><br />The atmosphere in Miami surpasses even their hatred of Fidel Castro and extends to citizens who live on the island. In the largest newspaper in the city diatribes appear ensuring that any relaxation of tensions “will have to be built by the submissive Cubans living on the island.”<br /><br />The island’s residents are described as “those who have endured everything, who collaborated with everything, who have beaten Cuban dissidents, those who have betrayed their compatriots, who have tortured them, who have thrown them into the sea, and who have spent fifty years filling Fidel’s Revolution Square applauding and sniffing his ass.”<br /><br />But it seems that the natural environment of that city wasn’t enough for Washington, so they decided that their official information apparatus would “burn up” hundreds of thousands of dollars to further inflame the situation and create a bonfire through the press.<br /><br />In such an environment, Gerardo Hernandez was sentenced to two life sentences, ensuring that he would remain behind bars even if reincarnated in another life. Now his defense is demanding a fair trial in an unbiased city and without pressure from governmental or media campaigns.<br /><br />The issue is worrisome even to the United Nations, because — as American lawyer Martin Garbus has expressed — “every dollar for every article, photo or radio or television program that was spent on this secret program violated the integrity of the trial.”<br />—–<br /><span style="color: navy;"><i> (*) An authorized translation by Havana Times (from the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mundo/cartas_desde_cuba/2012/08/el_habeas_corpus_de_gerardo_he.html"><span style="color: navy; text-decoration: underline;">Spanish original</span></a>)</span> published by BBC Mundo.</i></span>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-30097365697314425482012-08-31T23:15:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:15:59.982-07:00Mumia supporters rally around the cause to end prison abuses <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/amsterdamnews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/e2/1e2aaf58-3ca9-11e1-8208-001871e3ce6c/4f0e16551e795.image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/amsterdamnews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/e2/1e2aaf58-3ca9-11e1-8208-001871e3ce6c/4f0e16551e795.image.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><span class="updated" title="2012-08-23T09:17:41-04:00">Aug 23, 2012 <a href="http://www.amsterdamnews.com/news/national/mumia-supporters-rally-around-the-cause-to-end-prison-abuses/article_3f66238e-ed46-11e1-a246-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story">Amsterdam News </a></span><br /><div class="story-times dtstamp"><i> </i> </div><div class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><span class="fn">By ADONIS BELIN&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="byline"><br /><span class="paragraph-0">Mumia Abu-Jamal is probably the world’s most famous political prisoner. Known for his writings and being involved with pro-African-American movements, this former Black Panther who had been on death row for almost 30 years is now dealing with the controversy of a life sentence as supporters still demand that he is granted freedom.</span><br /><span class="paragraph-0"><br /></span> <span class="paragraph-1">However, on Aug. 13, apparently without his knowledge, Abu-Jamal was formally resentenced by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe to life imprisonment without parole.</span></div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-31542181192371597732012-08-31T23:11:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:11:30.227-07:007 Detainees Injured In Ramon Prison, Several Sent To Solitary Confinement&nbsp; <span class="article-details"> <span class="article-detail">Thursday August 23, 2012&nbsp;</span><span class="article-detail"> by Saed Bannoura - <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1897488744">IMEMC &amp; Agencies</a></span></span><a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/64105">&nbsp;</a> <br /><blockquote class="article-intro">The detainees clashed with the soldiers for approximately two hours after the army tried to force them to undergo a strip search in Ramon prison. Seven detainees were injured, and several detainees were sent to solitary confinement.</blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="File - PNN" class="summary-image" height="230" src="http://www.imemc.org/attachments/aug2012/soldiersmasks_1.jpg" title="Click on image to see full-sized version" width="340" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">File - PNN</div><div class="photo"><br /></div><div class="article">Palestinian Minister of detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, reported that the soldiers punched the detainees and hit them with batons before using gas against them. <br /><br />The army also cut power and water supplies before completely isolating sections 6 and 7; the army said that the two sections will remain isolated for a minimum of two days. <br /><br />The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) issued a press release identifying seven of wounded detainees were identified as; (Fateh movement spokesperson) Moayyad Jaradat, Raed Balawna, Fawwaz Abdeen, Montaser Saif, Assaf Zahran, Motawakkel Radwan and Mohammad Abu Sharqiyya. They were all placed in solitary confinement.<br /><br />The prison administration said that the wounded detainees will be sent to court and will be facing “criminal charges” allegedly for attacking Israeli soldiers. <br /><br />The PPS said that the detainees returned their meals in protest to the latest escalation and attack against them. <br /><br />It added that representatives of the prison administration sat down with the representative of the detainees, in Ramon, Jamal Rajpoub, to discuss the latest incident, and decided to hold another meeting on Friday. <br /><br />Rajoub said that “what happened in Ramon is a compliance with what, Ben Caspet, an Israeli journalist said, who described the Palestinian political prisoners as pigs”, the PPS reported.<br /><br />The PPS said that there are 760 Palestinian detainees held in Ramon Prison, including 500 detainees who were sentenced to at least one life term, and that the prison has 7 sections; 15 rooms in each section, each room has eight detainees held in it. <br /><br />Qaddoura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, held the Israeli Prison Authority responsible for the lives and well-being of the detainees, and said that this attack is an act of revenge against the detainees. <br /><br />Fares called for the immediate protection for the detainees, and urged the International Community to intervene and stop the ongoing Israeli attacks and violations against them.<br /><br />Updated From<br /><br />8 Detainees Wounded In Ramon Prison<br />Saed Bannoura, IMEMC &amp; Agencies - Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:28:19<br /><br />Palestinians Minister of Detainee, Issa Qaraqe’, stated that initial information revealed that eight Palestinian detainees, imprisoned at the Ramon Israeli prison, were injured after Israeli soldiers broke into their rooms and searched them.<br /><br />Qaraqe’ said that under-cover forces of the Israeli army broke into section #6 in Ramon under the pretext of searching it. <br /><br />The soldiers tried to force the detainees to undergo a strip-search but they refused. Soldiers then attacked them leading to clashes that resulted in eight injuries among the detainees, the Palestine News Network (PNN) reported. <br /><br />The soldiers used gas bombs, and struck the detainees with batons targeting different parts of their bodies. They went on to seal section 6 and disconnected its power and water supplies. <br /><br />Qaraqe’ held Israel responsible for the lives of the detainees and their well-being, and called on the international community to provide the needed protection to the detainees and to stop Israel’s ongoing violations against them. </div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-6235266339205120712012-08-31T23:08:00.000-07:002012-08-31T23:08:14.467-07:00Lee Lew Lee on Richard AokiI once heard Dick Gregory say...<br /><br />"Thousand points of light? Shit. That's not power. Now when the Sun <br />rises in the morning and knocks darkness clear out the sky... Now... <br />That's Power!"<br /><br />Richard Aoki has always been held in the highest esteem by everyone--and <br />I mean by every last comrade who knew him--and that should be good <br />enough for everyone.<br /><br />For me, there are two ways to look at this allegation made by Seth <br />Rosenfeld.<br /><br />Either, Richard used his knowledge of the system to game the system and <br />fucked up an old and dead FBI agent who was trying to settle an old <br />final score from back in the day. (Maybe he was the ONE guy who <br />successfully double-crossed the agent?)?<br /><br />Or it was an attempt to smear his name in the 60s that lay dormant as a <br />document time bomb, only to be misunderstood 44 years later.<br /><br />Wes Swearingen, who was cited, is (I feel) a well-intentioned man of <br />conscience, whose honest testimony freed Geronimo Pratt.<br /><br />From what I read in this flurry of accusations by the Rosenfeld, though, <br />Swearingen may have been merely analyzing the specific documents given <br />to him to see if the Bureau actually produced them. Period.<br /><br />Frankly, if they had any specific context that is now long gone, <br />especially if the other agent mentioned in the story said he had not <br />seen Aoki since '65, and we are presuming this is many years later.<br /><br />We must remember that people were 'bad jacketed' all the time back in <br />the day and these documents may have been from a result to do the same <br />back in say 1968-9.<br /><br />Regarding his weapons, I have no clue... and think that is perhaps way <br />over blown. However, I do know that he was the one that brought the Red <br />Book into the Party, and no matter what one may feel about that, it <br />absolutely changed the course of the struggle. That is history, and <br />certainly led to many things, pro and con, that will be debated for many <br />years to come. Again, put this into historical context. Remember, this <br />was 1968. That was an early period in the BPP.<br /><br />I say that because 20/20 hindsight can be a terrible thing when taken <br />completely out of context. I cannot personally accept anything said <br />about anyone "back in the day" unless it is verifiably documented. Not <br />hearsay from a man who was an enemy of the movement and is dead today. <br />People must remember to check the SOURCE.<br /><br />Personally, I never heard anything bad from anyone in the party in the <br />day about the comrade and was shocked to hear these allegations. To my <br />point of view, if he was dirty, people would have been suspicious back <br />in the day, as we always said that 'actions are the criterion of truth'<br /><br />Remember it WAS 43-44 years ago and the brother is not now here to speak <br />for himself or defend himself, so this is manifestly unfair... and I <br />imagine that this was written by someone who never was in the real <br />struggle back then.<br /><br />We will all find out in the next life who was for real and who was a <br />fake... if you believe that this life was not by accident... then the <br />final judge(s) will be a lot more powerful than we are. That is for sure.<br /><br />There was Field Marshal Aoki, my brother Guy Kurose in Seattle and <br />myself as the only 3 bona fide Asian members in the BPP, and we all came <br />out of the Asian American movement.<br /><br />Bro. Richard, I only met once in the late 90s and I felt he was a fine <br />brother when I met him, and now he is gone. I did not even know that he <br />had passed until this came up yesterday.<br /><br />Guy Kurose I first met in '69 and we were life long friends when he died <br />of cancer in 2002. Guy worked with the gang youth until his dying <br />breath. I will always be happy and honored to know him<br /><br />I went blind with the tumor and aneurysm in 2003 and had my 2 corrective <br />brain surgeries on the first day of the Iraq war.<br /><br />Guess I am the only one left of the 3 of us, and that is a very heavy <br />feeling, today. There were so many who gave their lives so that the most <br />basic things could be done for the human rights of all poor and <br />oppressed people nationwide.<br /><br />We must always think about how to help the poor and oppressed and fight <br />prejudice, and the shit-stem of apartheid... no matter what our position <br />in life. That is our obligation.<br /><br />Every society, so called civilization, is only as good as the condition <br />of it's poorest people and deepest attempts to eradicate poverty, <br />exploitation and massive suffering.<br /><br />I am sure that Brother Richard Aoki demonstrably and sincerely dedicated <br />the vast majority of his life and his every living thought to achieve <br />the overcoming of racism, poverty and inequality, without giving up.<br /><br />Those who fought and died in the 50s- 60s for US human rights were not <br />Gods and having been there does not make us Gods. Those who died were <br />usually motivated by love as the reason for risking their lives to fight <br />for the simplest things that today this entire nation takes for granted.<br /><br />If we look at the balance of a person's life and it was lived totally <br />without duplicity, we must take that person for their word. I think <br />Richard was indeed, exactly who he claimed to be, who is exactly what <br />people back in the day of the struggle also knew him to be: a dedicated, <br />brilliant revolutionary.<br /><br />If people were proven liars and grand standing opportunists 'back in the <br />day'... Then they would now be remembered as such by the survivors who <br />worked with them in the field back in the day.<br /><br />That final judgement is certainly not the place of authors who were <br />never there in the 60s U.S. human rights struggle, never shed blood, <br />sweat nor hard bitter, excruciatingly painful tears for all the fallen <br />comrades, tears that often flowed yesterday... and we often try to <br />forget today.<br /><br />August 21, 2012 Lee Lew-lee (Harlem Chapter of the Black Panther Party, <br />known in 1969 as Comrade Tsing), and director of the documentary film <br />ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!<br /><br />Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-59980760797851777882012-08-31T23:06:00.001-07:002012-08-31T23:07:01.895-07:00Was Bay Area Radical, Black Panther Arms Supplier Richard Aoki an Informant for the FBI?Aug. 23, 2012 <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/23/was_bay_area_radical_black_panther">Democracy Now</a><br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://www.democracynow.org/embed/story/2012/8/23/was_bay_area_radical_black_panther" width="400"></iframe><br /><br />Explosive new allegations have emerged that the man who gave the Black Panther Party some of its first firearms and weapons training was an undercover <span class="caps">FBI</span> informant in California. Richard Aoki, who died in 2009, was an early member of the Panthers and the only Asian American to have a formal position in the group. The claim that Aoki informed on his colleagues is based on statements made by a former bureau agent and an <span class="caps">FBI</span> report obtained by investigative journalist Seth Rosenfeld, author of the new book, "Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power." But Aoki’s friends and colleagues, as well as scholars, have challenged the book’s findings. We speak to Rosenfeld, an award-winning journalist and author of the article, "Man Who Armed Black Panthers was <span class="caps">FBI</span> Informant, Records Show," published by the Center for Investigative Reporting, and to Diana Fujino, Aoki’s biographer and a professor and chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. [includes rush transcript]<br /><div class="taggable"><div class="blog_meta"></div></div><div class="guestAppearances"><div class="guestsLabel">Guests:</div><div class="guest_appearance"><b><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/seth_rosenfeld">Seth Rosenfeld</a></b>, author of the new book, <i>Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals,and Reagan’s Rise to Power</i>. Rosenfeld was an award-winning a reporter for the <i>San Francisco Examiner</i> and <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i> for almost 25 years.</div><div class="guest_appearance"><b><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/diane_fujino">Diane Fujino</a></b>, professor and chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her most recent book is <i>Samurai Among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life</i>.</div></div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-55093938686874376692012-08-31T23:04:00.002-07:002012-08-31T23:04:21.461-07:00Where's the evidence Aoki was FBI informant?<div id="text-pages"><div class="page" style="display: block;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/14/63/61/3357761/3/628x471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/14/63/61/3357761/3/628x471.jpg" width="242" /></a><span class="name">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="name">Diane C. Fujino</span></div><h5 class="timestamp updated" title="2012-08-22T18:44:41Z">&nbsp;Wednesday, August 22, 2012 <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Where-s-the-evidence-Aoki-was-FBI-informant-3808396.php">SF Gate.com</a></h5><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Seth+Rosenfeld%22">Seth Rosenfeld</a>'s dramatic announcement that Richard Aoki was an FBI informant provoked an enormous response from Chronicle readers. Could it be true? Or was this a "snitch-jacketing," a classic FBI tactic used to cast suspicion on a legitimate activist by spreading rumors and manufacturing&nbsp;evidence?<br /><br />As a scholar, I insist on seeing evidence before concluding any "truth." But as I read Rosenfeld's work and cross-checked sources from my biography on Aoki, I realized Rosenfeld had not met the burden of proof. He made definitive conclusions based on inconclusive&nbsp;evidence.<br /><br />If Aoki was an informant, when was he informing? How did he help the FBI disrupt political movements? What were his&nbsp;motivations?<br /><br />I also questioned Rosenfeld's motives. Rosenfeld's piece, published the day before the release of his own book, gained him widespread media and public attention that surely will augment&nbsp;sales.<br />Rosenfeld offers four pieces of evidence against&nbsp;Aoki.<br /><br />First, Rosenfeld cites only one FBI document, a Nov. 16, 1967, report. It states: "A supplementary T symbol (SF T-2) was designated for" - but the name was deleted. Following the now-blank space was the name <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Richard+Matsui+Aoki%22">Richard Matsui Aoki</a> in parenthesis, and then the phrase "for the limited purpose of describing his connections with the organization and characterizing [Aoki]."<br /><br />In the FBI pages released to me, only brief background material on Aoki is linked to T-2. Moreover, T symbols are used to refer to informants or technical sources of information (microphones, wiretaps). So was Aoki the informer or the one being&nbsp;observed?<br /><br />Second, FBI agent <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Burney+Threadgill%22">Burney Threadgill</a> Jr. said he recruited Aoki in the late 1950s, but we have no substantial evidence other than Rosenfeld's reports, and Threadgill has since&nbsp;died.<br /><br />Third, FBI agent <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22M.+Wesley+Swearingen%22">M. Wesley Swearingen</a>'s statement, as quoted by Rosenfeld, is hardly compelling: "Someone like Aoki is perfect to be in a <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Black+Panther+Party%22">Black Panther Party</a>, because I understand he is Japanese. Hey, nobody is going to guess - he's in the Black Panther Party; nobody is going to guess that he might be an informant." But more logically, Aoki's racial difference made him stand out and aroused suspicion. Are we asked to simply trust authority&nbsp;figures?<br /><br />Fourth, Aoki's remarks, as seen in the video, are open to multiple interpretations, and Aoki denies the allegation. Anyone familiar with Aoki knows that he spoke with wit, humor, allusion and caution. Where's the conclusive&nbsp;evidence?<br /><br />FBI reports notoriously get things wrong, unintentionally (misinformation, typos) and intentionally ("snitch-jacketing"). The FBI in its Cointelpro program created false letters and cartoons to foment conflict between the <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Black+Panthers%22">Black Panthers</a> and another black nationalist organization, resulting in the 1969 murders of two Panthers at&nbsp;UCLA.<br /><br />I have an FBI report, dated July 30, 1971, 105-189989-38, stating that Aoki had been "invited to become Minister of Defense of the Red Guard" and served as "the liaison link between the Red Guard and the Black Panther Party." But this seems wrong, based on archival documents and my interviews with Aoki and Red Guard leader <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Alex+Hing%22">Alex Hing</a>.<br /><br />Simply put, because of the FBI's political motives, FBI reports must be carefully cross-checked with non-FBI sources. But the entirety of Rosenfeld's evidence relies on FBI&nbsp;sources.<br /><br />I was surprised that Aoki became the centerpiece of the chapter in Rosenfeld's book on the 1969 Third World strike. While Aoki was an important activist, he was largely unknown. Aoki and others agree that the Third World strike promoted collective leadership. They believed, as did African American civil rights activist <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Ella+Baker%22">Ella Baker</a>, that the charismatic leadership model encouraged hero worship, reinforced individualism and narcissism, and diminished ordinary people's belief in their own power to effect change. Rosenfeld elevates Aoki to "one of the Bay Area's most prominent radical activists of the era," a point that amplifies the drama of his own&nbsp;discovery.<br /><br />Rosenfeld is particularly critical of activists' use of violence without placing this violence in a larger context. He implies that Aoki's guns, given to the Black Panther Party, triggered the police's, FBI's and government's backlash. Yet he ignores the police brutality that inspired the Black Panther's police patrols, and the violence of racism and poverty that inspired the Panther's free breakfast programs. Instead, Aoki used the symbolic power of violence to stop the greater violence of the government's failing to actively counter poverty and institutionalized racism at home and in imposing war in&nbsp;Vietnam.<br /><br />In my book on Aoki, I write that instead of being the trigger, Aoki acted as the "safety on the gun." He was careful to teach gun safety. Neither the Panthers nor Aoki expected to win a military battle with the government. Firing the gun wasn't their intended goal. Instead, Aoki used the symbolic power of violence to stop the greater violence of the&nbsp;state.<br /><br />So why did Rosenfeld magnify Aoki when his book focuses more on <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Mario+Savio%22">Mario Savio</a>, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Clark+Kerr%22">Clark Kerr</a> and the Free Speech Movement? What responsibility does an author have to provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt before broadcasting disparaging accusations? Rosenfeld's article, video and book raise many questions, but fail to meet the burden of&nbsp;proof.<br /><br /><div class="dtlcomment"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Diane+C.+Fujino%22">Diane C. Fujino</a> is a professor and chair of Asian American studies at UC Santa Barbara and author of "Samurai Among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life" (University of <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=opinion%2Fopenforum&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22Minnesota+Press%22">Minnesota Press</a>, April&nbsp;2012).</div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Where-s-the-evidence-Aoki-was-FBI-informant-3808396.php#ixzz25CARsfjM" style="color: #003399;">http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Where-s-the-evidence-Aoki-was-FBI-informant-3808396.php#ixzz25CARsfjM</a></div>Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-88963327142562530842012-08-31T23:00:00.000-07:002012-08-31T23:00:05.580-07:008/31: Rumba Con Salsa/Salsa Benefit ConcertThe ProLibertad Freedom Campaign<br /><br />www.ProLibertadWeb.com<br /><br /><a href="https://fulvetta.riseup.net/sm/src/compose.php?send_to=ProLibertad%40hotmail.com">ProLibertad@hotmail.com</a><br /><br />718-601-4751<br /><br />RUMBA CON SALSA EN LA MANZANA<br /><br /><br />6:30pm-7:30pm: Reception with Former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Luis Rosa Perez <br />Videos and Slides (Campaign to free Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez<br />Rivera and of Tito Kayak's Kayaking Journey through the Carribbean for Oscar. <br />Presentation of Oscar's Book "Between Torture and Resistance"<br /><br />Wine and Appetizers will be served!<br /><br />7:45pm-8pm: Free Salsa Dance Lesson/Must purchase Concert Ticket to attend<br /><br />Proceeds to cover expenses and donation towards translation of the Book "Between<br />Torture and Resistance" by Oscar Lopez RiveraBreak the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30311353.post-7411642070125696892012-08-31T22:58:00.001-07:002012-08-31T22:58:47.207-07:00Statement Regarding Allegations that Richard Aoki Was An FBI Informant by Mike Cheng & Ben WangAug. 21, 2012 <a href="http://www.aokifilm.com/2012/08/21/statement-allegations-richard-aoki-fbi-informant-mike-cheng-ben-wang/">aokifilm.com</a><br /><br />A recent article (published at CIROnline.org) and book (entitled <i>Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise To Power</i>), both authored by Seth Rosenfeld, contain a serious allegation that Richard Aoki acted as an FBI informant throughout his involvement in several revolutionary movements for social justice.&nbsp; If these allegations are proven to be true, we do not condone these actions in any shape or form.&nbsp; However, as the discourse and investigation of these claims commence, we feel it is important to remind people that the burden of proof must fall on those that make the accusation.&nbsp; “No investigation, no right to judge” is a common Movement saying that bears repeating in these circumstances.&nbsp; Accusing anyone of being an informant is extremely inflammatory and any allegations must be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated for evidence.&nbsp;&nbsp; For those familiar with the history of COINTELPRO and tactics employed by the FBI falsely hanging snitchjackets on prominent contributors to the Movement to create internal dissent and conflict, the burden of proof must lie with the individual or group making the claim.&nbsp; After reviewing Rosenfeld’s article, video, and book, there is no solid evidence presented that Richard was a FBI informant.Rosenfeld’s conclusion that Richard was an FBI informant is based on the following:<br /><ul><li>He claims Richard made “suggestive statements” during an interview he granted Rosenfeld in 2007.&nbsp; However, the audio Rosenfeld has provided of the interview reveals that Richard clearly denied any allegation that he was an FBI informant.</li><li>An interview with former FBI agent Burney Threadgill in which he claims he recruited and trained Richard to be an informant.&nbsp; Threadgill passed away in 2005 and does not appear to have offered any additional proof beyond his own word, which contradicts Richard’s.</li><li>An FBI document that connects Richard with a supplementary T symbol (SF T-2). This document does not explain what this designation meant except for the unclear statement, “the limited purpose of describing his connections with the organization and characterizing him.” Furthermore, all names under the Informants column on the page with the SF T-2 designation have been redacted.&nbsp; In fact, all names on this page have been redacted except for Richard’s, which calls for further information and clarification as to the actual identity of SF T-2.&nbsp; Since the identify of SF T-2 is unknown, it is possible that the SF T-2 informant was assigned to inform on Richard, explaining why Richard’s name is listed on this document and why SF T-2 was “designated (<i>assigned</i>) for…Aoki.”&nbsp; The FBI files released by Rosenfeld do not reveal any documentation that Aoki actually provided information to the FBI.</li><li>The testimony of former FBI agent M. Wesley Swearingen that Richard fits the profile of an informant.&nbsp; While Swearingen has been consistently outspoken and critical of the FBI’s counter surveillance tactics, he admits he does not have any actual connection to Richard.</li></ul>Armed with no proof, it is unacceptable for Rosenfeld to discredit Richard’s integrity based on the unsubstantiated word of a deceased FBI agent and a document with redacted and vague information. &nbsp;Many individuals and media outlets have immediately accepted the claims of an author who is aggressively promoting his book without properly examining the evidence for themselves.&nbsp; Instead of automatically trusting questionable government sources and Rosenfeld’s sensationalist journalism, we must scrutinize what Rosenfeld states as fact.&nbsp; We urge Richard’s former comrades, friends, associates, the 600 plus mourners who packed Wheeler Auditorium to attend his memorial service, and anyone concerned with government infiltration of social justice movements to get involved.&nbsp; We must conduct our own research and publicly share our findings to determine the truth of the matter.&nbsp; Characterized by many as a man of great principle, consistency, and integrity, Richard wouldn’t have it any other way.Break the Chainshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104379973457576364noreply@blogger.com0